KickAss and HitGirl: The War on Crime
by TorontoBatFan
Summary: Two years after catching the Santa Strangler, Dave and Mindy continue their crusade.  But, how will the return of Red Mist/The Motherfucker, a deadly serious new opponent and their own inability to conceal their feelings for one another affect things?
1. Chapter 1

_Greetings fellow Kick-Ass fans. Well, I've finally gotten started on my next major fic. I plan for this to be a long one, so get ready. LOL_

_Some of the characters seen here were originally shown in Makokam's _Precocious Crush_ storyline. My fic-verse isn't connected to his aside from some shared characters, characters' names and possibly backgrounds._

_For all of you Dave and Mindy fans...Good news. This will be the fic were they -eventually- realize their feelings and start to get busy. LOL Word of warning though, it'll likely be a good number of chapters before that happens. (I'm not even sure when certain things will take place.)_

_As my regular readers surely know by now, I'm as addicted to reviews as Mindy is to violence and marshmellows in her hot chocolate. Please feed my addiction or I'll have to sick her on you. LOL_

_BTW, props for anyone who can spot the Actor Allusion in a few lines I gave Mindy early on. :-D_

_And awayyyyyy we go. :-D_

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><p>Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl: The War on Crime<p>

Winter had arrived in New York City, turning the grey metropolis into a shade of…white and grey. Thanksgiving advertisements began to give way to Christmas decorations as the joyous spirit of the season took its annual effect…on most people.

In a high school cafeteria in Queens, one particular New Yorker was not feeling the Christmas spirit just yet.

"What a douche." Mindy Macready declared with disgust as she looked across the cafeteria of Millard Filmore High School. Her words caused her red-haired tablemate to turn her own head and look in the same direction as her friend.

Across the cafeteria, a burly member of the school's football team (The guy wore a letterman's jacket and appeared to be on steroids. It was as if he was at a casting call for 'high school jock' in a John Hughes movie.), who appeared to be in distress as he was attempting to eat three hotdogs at one time. He was being cheered on by his own tablemates –all of them pumped up jocks with vacuous looking girls sitting adoringly on their laps. The red-head's eyes went wide.

"Oh my God!" Angela Sullivan gasped. "Why would he do that?"

"To paraphrase Lisa Loeb, I don't know and I don't care." Mindy said as she resumed eating her –very- high protein lunch. She thought the school's jocks were nothing more than a pack of Cro-Magnons. (Not to say that all athletes were like that, only the current football team at Millard Filmore High.) They strutted around like they owned the place. They thought they were the greatest thing sliced bread and were in awe of their own abilities on the field. (Mindy considered them arrogant poseurs. Dave, she knew for a fact, was stronger, faster and tougher than any of them and could put any and all of them into the hospital with his bare hands if he had to…It went without saying that she could do that as well.) And, they seemed to think that any girl in the school was just dying to get into bed with them. Naturally, they steered clear of Mindy after she had –in no uncertain terms- demonstrated what she thought of them when one made a pass at her in September. (And the guy only missed two games until the splint came off his hand.) Angela, likewise, was unmolested. But, that was because she was viewed as Mindy's friend, as well as the fact that Mindy had taken Angela on as a new protégé in terms of the skills that made Mindy so feared/respected.

"Should we help him?" Angela asked, casting another glance over her shoulder and then back to her friend.

Mindy sighed. "Hold on" She said as she appraised the situation with a critical eye. "It looks like…Yes, it appears he's been able to get them down that gullet of his."

"Why would he do something that…dumb?"

"Does there have to be a reason Angela? This place is an intellectual wasteland. The only good thing I can say is that in six months…we're done!" Mindy said as a smile broke over her face. After spending much of her life being homeschooled, transitioning to a regular school environment had been a bit of a shock to her system. The first couple of months Mindy felt like she was going out of her mind with boredom. The monotonous routine combined with being "retired" from crimefighting had left her feeling dead inside. It was only her friendship with Dave that had kept her going. But then, after about two or three months, she and Dave had realized they simply could not endure being out of costume any longer. As a result, Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl made a triumphant return to the streets of New York City. After that, Mindy found she could cope with everything much better since she didn't have to give up who she was. The only real downer had come a year and a half before when Dave –along to her other two friends, Todd and Marty- graduated, leaving her to face her final two years of high school without them around. Fortunately for her, she'd met Angela by then and become friends with her. Angela, she now admitted, was almost as close a friend as Dave was. (Nobody would ever be able to surpass the importance for her that Dave had.)

"Graduation!" Angela confirmed happily as they bumped fists. She was about to say something else when a new distraction occurred. There was a raucous yelling and banging from the table where the hotdog eating jock and his buddies were.

"What's going on now?" Angela sighed, turning back again.

"If I had to guess, it's probably some homo-erotic chest bumping, in honour of their Noble Prize winning achievement. Without even looking, I'll go out on a limb and say it's the most blatant display of man on man love since the shirtless beach volleyball game in _Top Gun_." Mindy grumbled as she looked down at her notebook. She was mentally planning out patrol routes for the next few weeks. She and Dave made an effort to never be predictable in what area they'd patrol, unless there was some sort of spike in crime rates for particular neighbourhoods.

"No!" Angela said with alarm. "Mindy…I think this is serious." Angela intoned; her green eyes wide with concern. Mindy looked up and her blue eyes registered shock. As a rule people being loud and disruptive in the cafeteria was –more or less- a regular part of the high school life. For the most part, the rest of the student body ignored them. But this, as Angela had said, was indeed something out of the ordinary.

The jocks were pounding on the tables loudly and smashing trays down on them, scattering food everywhere. The offensive lineman who'd been eating the hot dogs to begin with was bellowing at the top of his lungs and pumping his arms in the air. His buddies at the table were joining him in his baying. The girls who'd previously been sitting on their laps had slipped off and scurried away.

The hotdog eating lineman began to then kick chairs across the room while pumping his fists in the air. To Mindy it was a display that looked like a mix of Tom Cruise and _Jersey Shore_ in terms of insanity and stupid machismo. He strode over to his table and grabbed a hold of it. His buddies joined him and together they flipped it over easily. The cacophony of noise in the room increased even further if that was possible.

Just then, faculty members began to appear in the room, followed by some of the school's security guards. The teachers shrank back from the scene immediately and let the guards take over. One security guard approached the rampaging lineman and was promptly knocked back onto the floor, sliding through the spilled food.

"Shouldn't we do something?" Angela asked with a hushed urgency.

"No." Mindy replied quietly as Angela crept up very close to her.

"I can cover for you if you want to slip away to…change." Angela said in a voice so quiet only Mindy would hear her.

"No. I can't. It'd be too risky. It's inside my own school…in daylight." Mindy whispered back at her friend as she shook her head.

Slowly, Angela nodded her own head in acknowledgement and agreement as she saw the logic of what Mindy said.

Across the cafeteria, the rampaging hotdog eater had knocked two more security guards to the ground. Even his teammates had apparently felt this was going too far and had stepped in to try and calm him down. He promptly punched one in the face and knocked another over a fallen table.

Another guard rushed him and they struggled briefly, before the raging football player suddenly stopped and a strange look fell over his face which had suddenly become ashen pale. His massive legs buckled and he crumbled to the ground as more screams erupted in the cafeteria. Mrs. Zane, Mindy's English teacher –who Dave, it had grossed Mindy out to learn, used to put deposits in his whack-off warehouse in truly warped fantasies- came in and took charge of the scene. She knelt down and did an assessment of the fallen jock. She yelled for someone to get the schools automatic defibrillator and then began to perform CPR.

Mindy and Angela exchanged a worried glance. This was indeed something serious; VERY serious. Mindy decided that she was going to have to see if she could find out what she could. She pulled her cellphone from the holster on her belt and opened up her messaging function. Angela cast a glance down at her friend's hand.

"Let me guess. Texting Dave?" Angela asked with an arched eyebrow. It wasn't a hard guess. She knew that Mindy had three close friends: Dave, Todd and herself. She also knew that Mindy wouldn't text Todd about something like this.

"Damn straight."

"What're you telling him?"

"We might have some *work* to do later." Mindy said as she sent her text message.

"What sort of work would the two of you have?" Angela asked as they both heard the sound of approaching sirens. Angela cast a glance out the window and saw a fire engine pull up to the school and stop.

"I'm not sure. But I am sure that high school athletes don't freak out and crash down like that unless they have some help."

"Help?"

"Help from…chemistry class." Mindy said with a knowing glance as Angela nodded in understanding as she grasped what Mindy said.

More chaos then erupted in the cafeteria as a small group of men and women, dressed in the black and yellow bunker-gear of the New York Fire Department arrived in the cafeteria, carrying life support equipment. They immediately took over from Mrs. Zane and the vice-principal who'd joined her. More sirens sounded and Mindy looked out the cafeteria window to see a FDNY ambulance arriving along with a police car. The paramedics appeared seconds later in the cafeteria who summarily relieved the crew from engine. A pair of uniformed police officers arrived and began to take down statements from the various witnesses to the event.

An hour later and it was done. The football player had –thankfully- been revived by the paramedics who'd been carrying heart stimulant drugs. He'd been taken to the hospital where –according to the principal, who then passed the news to the rest of the school- he was expected to recover. Classes were cancelled for the rest of the day. Some of the students went home immediately, while others continued to mill about the school talking about what happened with one another. The school counselor announced that there would be traumatic incident counselors available to anyone who needed it.

Mindy, who'd witnessed things infinitely more horrible than that, had no need or desire to talk to anyone about it. What she did have though, was a desire to know what had happened. Her first step, she thought, was the guy's locker. It would be –she was certain- checked by the police and school faculty. Mindy's own locker was nowhere close to the jock's, nor was Angela's. Luckily, she did know someone whose locker was very close.

"Dillon" Mindy said sweetly as she and Angela flanked the lanky, dark-haired senior.

"Oh, hi guys." Dillon said awkwardly. He tried to fight down his nervousness. He thought Mindy and Angela were about the two prettiest girls in the school…and they actually talked to him as well and had even posed for some of his pictures.

"What're you up to?"

"I'm just getting ready to go home."

"We were wondering if you'd do us a huge favour." Mindy said with an endearing smile.

"Um…what do you want me to do?" Dillon squeaked. He was actually a very intelligent and capable teen. However, he always seemed to be tongue-tied around girls and had no real success with any of the girls at school. Mindy felt that was a shame, since in her opinion, he was a better guy than about 95% of the male population here. She thought she'd have been tempted to date him herself…Except for one thing –he wasn't Dave. Dave was the only person she knew she could ever feel anything beyond friendship for. She fought off a downturn in mood as she wished he felt that way about her as well, and refocused on the situation at hand.

"We need you to do some observing for us." Mindy said as Dillon's face brightened. As an aspiring photographer, he was good at that.

"What do you want me to observe?"

"That guy from the football team who freaked out and crashed at lunchtime…"

"Yeah?"

"Your locker is just down the hall from his."

"That's right."

"When they go to check it, we want you to try and see if they turn up anything interesting."

"Um…How do I do that?"

"With this." Mindy said simply and removed, from her backpack a miniature parabolic microphone connected to a miniature voice-recorder. Dillon's eyes went wide.

"Where'd you get that?" He asked in awe. He knew that stores that dealt in surveillance equipment sold items like that. But, it was both expensive and not the sort of thing an average high school girl would carry around in her backpack. (Mindy had actually been forced to call Dave's dad, who was at home, who'd brought it over from their secret "lair" for this exact purpose as Mindy didn't carry this with her as a rule.

"James Bond was having a garage sale." Mindy deadpanned. "It's easy. You just look like you're going through stuff in your locker. You point microphone where they're doing the search and hit the record button. That's all."

"But…" Dillon began to say until Angela stepped forward and put her hand on Dillon's shoulder with a smile.

"Dillon…You know, Jessi e-mailed me last night. She's coming back from Rochester to visit with some relatives over the holidays for a few days. You remember Jessi, don't you?" Dillon nodded his head anxiously. He'd thought Jessi was even hotter than Mindy or Angela. "Well, she tells me that she's single. She's got a new skirt that's really, really short that she wants to show off over the holidays. And…she's just dying to finally go out with a really nice guy for a change. And, wouldn't you know it…I think you happen to be the nicest guy in the school. So, if you do this for us…I'll put in a VERY good word for you with Jessi. Catch my drift?" She said with a smile and a nod. Dillon's face broke into a smile that looked like he'd overdosed on Smile-X gas and his head nodded so fast Mindy thought he'd have to go see a chiropractor later. He grabbed the parabolic microphone and took off for his own locker, practically hopping around the corner on one foot.

Mindy looked at Angela with approval. "That was good. I've got to hand it to you."

"Thanks" Angela beamed proudly.

"Shit, I think he'd break open that locker with his bare hands now." Mindy said with a laugh.

"Do you think I wound him up a little too hard?"

"I don't think so. What are you going to tell Jessi though?"

"Oh, um…keep a secret?"

"Angela…You remember who this is?"

"Well," Angela said with a laugh "Jessi did e-mail me and say that she was single and visiting. She also told me that she always thought Dillon was cute and was sorry she never paid any attention to him rather than going out with all of those jackasses she seemed to constantly dig up. She asked me if Dillon was seeing anyone and if he'd maybe take her out to a movie." She finished with a giggle that proved contagious as Mindy started laughing too.

"Oh hell Angela, this is like _Ghostbusters_ and you've set up the Key-Master and the Gate-Keeper." Mindy gasped when she finally stopped giggling. Damn, she thought, she never used to giggle like that. "Let's go grab a hot chocolate and wait for what Cody Banks digs up for us."

An hour later, Mindy and Angela entered Atomic Comics and sat down at their usual booth, after each ordering a hot chocolate, that luckily was unoccupied. Mindy removed the ear-buds from her ears as she re-listened to the conversation Dillon had surreptitiously recorded. A scowl broke over her face.

"What is it?" Angela asked. Wordlessly Mindy handed her the recorder and earpiece. Angela listened and her green eyes went wide again. "Oh wow…"

"Shit….The steroids they found, I figured on; but methamphetamine?" Mindy said in a low voice as her mental wheels turned.

"And two other guys the team knew about it?"

"I wonder who else in the school is on ice?" Mindy said with a shake to her head. "Well, at least we know what we're up against now." Mindy said as she pulled her phone out again and sent a text to Dave.

* * *

><p>Across the Borough, at Queen's College of the City University of New York, a very muscular young man with short dark hair and glasses walked across the campus. Dave Lizewski was planning on heading for the school's gym and hitting the weight room before attending his last class of the day. Just then, he heard a chime and felt a vibration on his belt. He removed his cellphone and looked at the incoming text message. It was from Mindy.<p>

_I found out what happened to the jock earlier_ She texted.

_What_? Dave responded.

_What do you think about someone selling both steroids and methamphetamine to high school students?_

_I think that Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl should beat their fucking heads in for them!_ Dave typed back as a frown crossed his face. His alma mater wasn't perfect, but it had never been plagued with any major drug problems…until now. He simply wasn't going to let that stand.

_Damn straight dude!_ Was Mindy's reply along with a smiley face icon.

_We'll meet up at my place after class and you can fill me in?_ Dave typed back.

_As Catwoman would say, purrrfect._ Mindy replied.

Dave replaced the phone on his belt and quickened his stride towards the gym. His face broke out into a wide grin. He and Mindy hadn't had a big case since the start of November. Since then, it was all just the usual stuff: muggings, purse snatchers, armed robberies, drug dealers, attempted rapes and even the odd murder or two. All of them were crimes they took seriously and dealt with. But, there was nothing that really got his mental juices flowing since then.

He paused for a moment to reflect. It was approaching two years ago this month that he and Mindy had caught the Santa Claus Strangler and –in their minds and the eyes of much of the city- proven themselves to be truly serious crimefighters. After that, the routine street crime they'd dealt with before just wasn't as exciting. They still took out street criminals wherever and whenever they found them. But, it just wasn't as much of a professional challenge as the Strangler or the major cases that followed. Since then, he and Mindy had stepped up their crusade against the big crime bosses. Marcus had informed them that they were starting to make an impact far up the criminal food chain.

And then there were the Villains…In the last two years, more and more criminals had begun to commit crimes in costumes and with their own _nom de guerre_. Some were laughable (literally, a few of them were so lame they almost got away because he and Mindy were laughing so hard at them), others were fairly adept criminals who thought it'd be a gimmick to wear a costume, and others were stone killers who liked to dress up for reasons of their own. A few had even committed mass murder. One night, he and Mindy had realized they were truly developing their own Rogues Gallery of villains. What's more, in the last eight months, or so, a pattern had begun to emerge. Costumed criminals were committing all sorts of crimes across the spectrum of seriousness. They ranged from stealing a can of pop from a hot dog vendor in Central Park to a rape and double-murder of a Staten Island couple celebrating their wedding anniversary at the Waldorf-Astoria. The only connecting thread was all wore orange on some part of their costume. Needless to say, this was something he and Mindy were keeping an eye on.

Mindy…It was becoming harder and harder for Dave to spend time around her and conceal what he felt. She'd grown into such a stunning beauty and he still thought she clicked with him better than anyone ever had in his life. But, he'd sworn two years before to never reveal his feelings for her. The tension his unreciprocated (as Dave was certain they would be) feelings would cause could affect their working dynamic –and in their line of work, that could easily get one, or both of them, killed. He sighed audibly.

But now…The prospect of someone dealing drugs at his old high school was just the sort of case that would be a true challenge. Whenever Dave felt frustrated over his feelings for Mindy, he threw himself into a case: the more challenging the better. And this was just what the doctor ordered.

* * *

><p>Back in Atomic Comics, Mindy set down her phone and looked at her red-haired friend.<p>

"Dave said he'll meet me back at his place later and we'll go over stuff."

"You want me to do my thing?"

"Damn straight. Get online and get all the information from all the reports filed this afternoon. Hack the school records and see if there's any history the guy had anywhere else."

"I'm on it."

"I'll be at Dave's house." Mindy said as the two girls zipped up their coats and headed for the door. Angela had not failed to notice the way Mindy had said Dave's name. She shook her head in frustration. Two of her four closest friends seemed unaware they were both perfect for each other and that the other was clearly reciprocating the feelings they had. She did know better than to try and play matchmaker though. As Angela bade Mindy goodbye and began to make her own way home, she wished that for two people who were so intelligent, they were a little smarter about something that was obvious to anyone who knew them.


	2. Chapter 2

_Greetings, dear readers._

_I apologize for the delay in getting the new chapter up. However, I found this very hard to get started. Funnily enough, once I got going I was able to write this in just a few hours._

_My long-term readers might note this is shorter than what I usually do. Well, writing those marathon chapters is somewhat draining. So, in this fic I'm going to try and do shorter chapters that are updated more frequently._

_In other words, I've decided to attempt to Makokam my usual writing style. I hope this Makokamed chapter meets everyone's approval. So everyone is OK with me doing a Makokam to the length of my chapters? Cool. :-D_

_Once again, reviews are my addiction. Please feed it. The more reviews I get, the quicker I tend to crank out new chapters. :-D_

_Happy reading and awayyyyy we go. :-)_

Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl: The War on Crime, Chapter II

Dave unlocked the front door to his house and stepped in. His dad was at work, but Dave knew that he wasn't alone in the house. Putting away his coat, boots and knapsack, he descended the basement steps to The Lair.

As promised, Mindy was waiting for him. Coming down the steps, he saw her sitting on a floor mat, doing some stretching exercises. Her back was to him and she seemed completely focused on her stretches. For brief moment he wondered if it was possible for him to sneak up on her to test his stealth ability. But then, she spoke.

"You're right on time." She said cheerfully.

"How'd you know I was there?" Dave asked sheepishly.

"Please. Do you remember WHO it was that taught you to sneak up on people?" Mindy asked. In actuality, Mindy had not heard him at all. She'd heard him come in the house from the sound of his winter boots on the floor above her, but she had only been tipped off that he was approaching her when she glanced up and saw his reflection behind her on a piece of their equipment. Of course, she'd never admit that. She was Hit-Girl, and she had a reputation to uphold.

"That would be you." Dave admitted. He looked around The Lair –it had, over the last two years, been given the official title- with satisfaction. It now really looked like the secret headquarters of New York City's best costumed-crimefighting duo. They had weights, punching bags, sparring gear and a variety of bladed weapons for training. There was their computer, which they used to hack into the New York Police Department database whenever they needed extra information on a case –although, Angela had more or less taken over that job for them now. There were cameras, microphones and recording devices for both audio and video surveillance. They had various types of body armour hanging from the walls. Some were prototypes that Todd was working on for them –more or less variations of existing models. A couple were experiments he was working on that were his own creations, seeing ways he could give Dave and Mindy more Kevlar protection. To go along with that, there were a couple of Kevlar vests that they'd kept which had fulfilled their duty to the last full measure. These vests had taken bullets in the line of duty and duly stopped them. They now were in a case so they could have a reminder about the importance of body armour...as well as a reminder that they could never afford to get too overly-confidant. If that happened, they'd get careless. And, in their line of work, if you got careless you got hurt...Only hurt, if you were lucky. They even had a very basic crime lab set up. They'd taught themselves some basic forensics procedures and had put together miniature kits for scene analysis. However, they still primarily relied on the New York Police Department's crime lab for analytical work and anything to do with DNA. (The results came to them either through Marcus passing the information on to them, or through Angela's hacking ability.)

And then there was their trophy collection. Every victory he and Mindy achieved on the streets were catalogued in their crime files. However, the memorable cases were given their own private memorial. There was a Santa Claus hat, some Christmas ribbon from Harold Heffernan –aka The Santa Claus Strangler- along with newspaper headlines describing their capture of him. There was a balaclava mask worn by the Bensonhurst Rapist. There was a set of lockpicks belonging to a burglary ring in the Upper West Side they'd smashed (along with the bones of the perpetrators when they wouldn't surrender peacefully). One trophy was a pair of boots worn by a vicious home-invader who'd plagued Forest Hills for six months…until Dave and Mindy tracked him down and put him in Sing-Sing. And then there were trophies from the "villains". Parts of their costumes or weaponry that were not used in either criminal trials or sanity hearings (like the other trophies that were either not used as evidence or that were released after proceedings were completed), eventually found their way to The Lair. All in all, their trophy room was starting to get crowded. Dave wasn't sure if it was a sign that he and Mindy really were as good as everyone said they were, or that the city was getting crazier. Maybe it was both. All in all, The Lair now truly looked like a headquarters Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl could be proud of…If one discounted the washing machine and dryer in the corner by the laundry folding table.

"How long have you been here?" Dave asked his lithe partner.

"Oh, I've been here about an hour, or so. School was interesting today."

"So you said. I was surprised when you texted me. When I was going to Fillmore, it wasn't perfect by a long shot, but there was never anything like Meth going on."

"What about the steroids?"

"The football team won about a dozen games spread over the four years I went there. I don't think they were doing any steroids if they were playing that lousy."

"Yeah, now that you mention it…The team really had a good season this year. Do you think the coach had anything to do with it?"

"I don't think so. I mean, this isn't Texas where high school football means more than basic literacy. It's Queens. You know that Coach Zoric is mainly a Social Studies teacher. It's not like his life depends on whether the football team wins or loses. He wants them to win…But I don't see him risking his whole career and maybe jail time by giving the players Juice."

"That's about what I thought." Mindy replied. She twisted her body down into a full split and leaned down over her leg. "Can you do me a favour? Can you push down on my shoulders?" She asked Dave.

Dave complied. He stepped over and placed his hands on Mindy's tank-top clad shoulders and pushed down. Mindy's torso crept closer to the floor as she grabbed her bare ankle and pulled her upper body down and held it. Dave –with a great effort- suppressed a shiver. Whenever this happened it was agony and ecstasy combined. His hands felt electrified being able to touch her warm, soft skin and exert power. On the flip side it was agony to know that he couldn't do what he truly wanted, which was to pull her into his arms and kiss her so hard it would leave her breathless, followed by ripping off every stitch of clothing from her body and then ravishing her on the training mats.

Overall, Dave didn't know how he'd kept his sanity these last two years. He and Mindy were together pretty much all the time and close proximity that was neutralized by the knowledge that he could never have her, or reveal his feelings for her, was like fire and ice; two basic elements always at odds with each other. Dave was thankful for patrols. When the frustration got too much, he found that the best solution was to pound out his frustrations on the criminal lowlifes they hunted. One day the previous summer, he and Mindy, along with Todd, Marty, Erika and Angela had gone swimming. Mindy was wearing a new two-piece bathing suit that would probably have caused Marcus to have a freak-out if he'd seen it. It had a definite effect on Dave. He'd spent a large part of that day in the cool water and that night…He and Mindy had faced off with a street gang. Dave had taken on a half-dozen of them single-handedly…and sent all six of them to the hospital, with only a few bruises of his own to show for it. Mindy had been VERY impressed at that…even if she had no clue of the part she played in it.

Mindy bit down on her lip hard as she felt Dave's strong hands press down on her bare shoulders. She squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself not to think. She wouldn't allow herself to think of what she really wanted him to do. She really wanted him to rip her purple tanktop and spandex training pants off of her, lay her on the mat and ravish her. It wasn't fair. The only person she knew she'd ever want in that way…and it happened to be partner and best friend who surely thought of her as nothing more than a surrogate little sister. (It's a shame, she thought, they don't live in Alabama.) She wanted him to kiss her. She wanted him to take her, in every which way there was.

Mindy recalled the previous summer when they went swimming. She'd worn a new bikini that had caused Marcus to do a spit-take of his orange juice when he saw it on her. (She'd never seen a man shoot orange juice so far out of his nostrils like that. Personally, she thought he could get on David Letterman doing that.) Dave didn't seem to notice it though. He seemed to want to spend the entire time in the water. Mindy found herself wishing that they'd been alone. Maybe then, she'd have found the courage to do what she wanted to…to yank the swim suit off, dive into the water naked, wrap herself around Dave and confess that she loved him. At least on patrol that night, she got to watch as Dave had unleashed an unholy curb-stomping on a half-dozen brain dead gang-bangers. It was an orgy of violence that Mindy found herself actually getting off on watching. It was poetic carnage that was simply orgasmic and a sight to behold.

"So" Dave said, breaking the sexually-tense laden silence that permeated The Lair, "where do you think we should start?"

"What do you think? You're the master planner-detective here." Mindy said with a smirk as she stood up and pulled on a purple sweat top.

"I think we should, first off, go talk to the guy from the team as soon as he's awake. He can tell us where he got the stuff from." Dave said thoughtfully. "What hospital is he in?"

"I've got Angela working on that from her house. She said she'd let us know as soon as she gets all the information. We can't go until after dark, at any rate."

"Well, the sun's going down now. We'll have the cover of darkness soon enough…" Dave began to say when Mindy's iPhone rang. They both recognized the ring-tone as the one assigned to Angela.

"Angela." Mindy said as she answered the call and put it on speaker. "Dave's here and we're raring to go. What do you have for us?"

"Hey Mindy, hi Dave." Angela greeted her friends over the speaker. " Alright, Leonard Barker –the guy from the team- was taken to New York Hospital Queens. He was moved up to a room about twenty minutes ago, according to the hospital computers. Like they reported at school, he's expected to make a full recovery…But from what it looks like, I don't know if he'd be able to answer any questions tonight though."

"We're going to try anyways. He might be willing to talk to us more than he would talk to the police when they decide to question him." Dave said.

"Seriously?" Angela asked. From what she'd seen of the jocks at the school, they seemed to have little or no regard for any authority figure, school faculty, parent or police.

"You have no idea how much more responsive people are when they're asked questions by people in costumes who wear masks and have reputation for applied violence than they are a city employee who has to file paperwork on everything." Mindy replied with a smirk.

"Ok" Came Angela's reply. "Good luck with Leonard. I'll be standing by here. Do you need me or Todd to help with anything else?"

"No thanks; at least, not for now." Dave replied.

"We'll keep you posted if we get anything. Later." Mindy added as she disconnected the call.

"So, I think we should get over to the hospital soon. We want to get there before the police question him and they might also sedate him for the night."

"Damn straight. If we leave now, we should get there just when the shifts are changing too."

"We can't really go through the lobby or hallways in costume though. Oh, maybe we could do Plan Shortbread." Dave said hopefully, if not seriously.

Mindy laughed in response. "First off, I don't have any made. Secondly, you know they don't let you go selling stuff inside of hospitals like that. Why'd you even ask?"

"Your shortbread is so good." Dave said simply as Mindy laughed.

"Fine, I'll be making it for Christmas again. But what about tonight at NYHQ?"

"Let's go with Plan-A" Dave said as he walked over to large wardrobe that had been built against a wall. He opened up a door, rummaged around and pulled out two bundles. He opened up one that colour-coded green for him and examined the contents making sure everything was in there. He handed Mindy her own, purple marked bag. She did her own inspection and saw that they had everything needed to pass as hospital volunteers, including wigs. Dave would become blonde with the wig, while she would now have curly red-hair. (They got the idea for the new hair colours from reading how they were depicted in the comic "Kick-Ass" that was still a top seller at all the comic stores in the city.) "Let's suit up and then we just have to put these on over them."

Mindy smiled and shook her head in admiration. Over the last two years, Dave had put together various disguise kits for just about every likely scenario. "Dude…You really are into being crazy prepared, aren't you?"

"And this is coming from someone who owns just about every weapon known to mankind?" Dave responded with his own grin.

"A girl has to accessorize." Mindy responded evenly.

"That's your story and you're sticking to it?"

"Damn straight!" Mindy said as Dave laughed while they went upstairs to change.

An hour later, the Mistmobile (They now no longer even thought of changing the name of the car) pulled in front of a parking meter three blocks from the New York Hospital Queens, in Flushing. Dave set the parking brake and turned to Mindy. She was looking up and down the street. It was clear.

"Ok" She said. The two crimefighters removed their masks and –in Mindy's case- wig. They pulled on their other wigs and tucked their masks away in inside pockets of their outer clothing. Next, they put on large-framed glasses. The glasses were un-stylish enough that anyone who looked at them would be distracted by the extremely 'un-cool' eyewear. The frames made what Steve Urkel wore look cool in comparison, but what they wanted was something that would distract anyone who saw them from noticing their actual features. The lenses were glass that had just enough of a tint that it altered their eye colour.

Dave and Mindy then swiftly exited their car, placed some coins in the parking meter, and began to walk to the New York Hospital Queens.

Thirty minutes later, Dave and Mindy emerged back out onto Main Street.

"Shit" Mindy grumbled.

"You said it." Dave sighed.

"You'd think that when a guy has a near-fatal reaction to drugs, they wouldn't sedate him."

"Maybe they wanted him calm for the night? Or maybe he's just drained from all that happened today?"

"Yeah, but how're we supposed to question him when he's out cold until morning?"

"I guess the doctor in charge didn't figure on Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl dropping by." Dave said reasonably as they began to walk back to the Mistmobile.

"And the police will be here in the morning to question him, while we can't come back here in costume until tomorrow night and…" Mindy began to rant when Dave cut her off by grabbing her arm.

"What?" Mindy asked as she ignored the electrical ecstasy that came whenever Dave touched her.

"Coach Zoric." Dave said gesturing down the street. He saw tall, dark-haired man in his thirties walking down the street from the hospital visitor's parking lot towards the main entrance.

"Think he might know something? You said it yourself, he wouldn't be giving them anything."

"That's right, and I don't believe he is. But, maybe he saw who some of the guys on the team were hanging with and didn't realize anything was going on until now." Dave pointed out.

"It's worth a try, I guess." Mindy admitted as they darted into the shadows to remove their outer garments and pull their masks back on.

Anthony Zoric, Social Studies teacher and football coach at Millard Fillmore High School was at the end of a very bad day. One of his players had nearly died after a steroid and methamphetamine induced rampage in the cafeteria. Then, a search of his locker had resulted in drugs being found there and two more players had come forward to admit they knew of it. He sighed to himself as he wished he'd never agreed to coach the team in addition to his teaching duties. He'd only done it- gotten into coaching- to please his father. His father was a former middle-school physical education teacher in Los Alamos, New Mexico. He'd grown up listening to his dad talk about how great coaching was. That was, of course, before the massacre at the swimming pool of the school where he'd been teaching at. He still recalled his father after that, when he spent the rest of the term on paid medical leave. After that, Gustav Zoric had lost some of his fire for coaching. He'd eventually taken additional classes and become a principal in the Los Alamos school system. He was well-regarded for his willingness to help out his students and his zero tolerance for bullying at his school. Still…He wondered what his father would think of what had happened today. He would tell his dad when he saw him at Christmas. He suspected his father would think it nothing compared to what he saw on that pool deck in March of 1983.

His silent reverie was interrupted by a harsh, rasping voice from the darkness.

"Mister Zoric?" The voice rasped out, causing him to jump.

"Who's there?" Zoric asked, clenching his fists. He'd played football himself in high school and had kept in decent shape since then.

"Us" A female voice replied, as Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl stepped out of the shadows.

"Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl?" Zoric asked in shock. His daughter loved her Hit-Girl doll. It amazed him to have met the real thing. It was as if this day couldn't get strange enough.

"Leonard Barker…Do you know where he got the drugs from?" Came Kick-Ass's reply that sounded like he was suffering the world's worst case of bronchitis.

"Like I told the police, I had no idea this was going on. I wouldn't keep anyone on my team or even in the school if they were doing that." Zoric said definitely. "By the way, are you alright? You sound like you have strep throat, or something."

"Did you see him hanging out with anyone?" Hit-Girl asked him.

"No, not Leonard…Wait!"

"You've thought of someone?" Kick-Ass growled.

"I've never seen Leonard hanging out with anyone. But, I did see Josh, who's a friend of his on the team hanging out with a former student."

"Who?" Asked Hit-Girl

"Jacob B. Jeremiah. He graduated –I have no idea how- about six years ago, not too long after I started there. He was a trouble-maker back then and I know a lot of the faculty wanted to see him expelled. I remember him showing up at school like he was on something back then. I just thought now that if he was talking to any of Leonard's friends, then…" Zoric trailed off as he mentally completed the circuit.

"Jacob B. Jeremiah? We'll check him out." Kick-Ass growled in the voice that seemed to be a mix of either bad Christian Bale mixed with bad Clint Eastwood…or he had the most heinous case of laryngitis known to mankind.

"Thank you. I can't stand the idea of anything like this happening to one of my students. Is there anything else I can do?"

"You can 'forget' about remembering our new friend Jacob for a couple of days if the police question you again about what happened." Hit-Girl said. "Oh, if you're looking to drop in on Leonard, he's out cold for the night. Don't waste your time."

"Thank you again. Oh…May I ask a small favour from you?" Zoric said with embarrassment.

"What?"

"My daughter loves her Hit-Girl doll. Do you think I could get a picture of you?" Anthony Zoric asked as he pulled his BlackBerry phone from his pocket. Hit-Girl sighed and then put on her trademark smirk as she posed for the picture. (She didn't have Zoric as a teacher for any of her classes, and thus rarely had any contact with him at school. So, Mindy wasn't worried about him noticing any resemblance between her and Hit-Girl.)

Ten minutes later, after bidding Coach Zoric farewell, Dave and Mindy were back in the Mistmobile. Dave dialed a number on his iPhone while Mindy began to do a Google search for the name they'd been given.

"Angela?" Dave said into the phone when it was answered. "We need you to run down a name for us: Jacob B. Jeremiah…"

Minutes later, the Mistmobile came to life and pulled out of the parking spot, heading for the address one Jacob B. Jeremiah.

"Do you think that this guy is doing it all himself, or he'll give someone up to us?" Mindy asked.

"I don't know." Dave responded. "I do know that he's going to tell us, one way or another." Dave said with a steely determination.

"You just love this stuff, don't you?" Mindy said with a contented smile. She knew she was witnessing a man truly in his element -Dave Lizewski on the hunt.

"Damn straight." Dave said back at her with his own smile as they bumped fists.

The Mistmobile roared through the Queens night, taking Dave and Mindy to their new prey.


	3. Chapter 3

_Greetings dear readers. Wow, I guess the inspiration bug bit hard. I was able to do this whole chapter in one evening of writing. LOL. And believe it or not, I'm still trying to Makokam my chapters to make them a little shorter than normal. LOL_

_FYI, Wall-Kill is the name of an actual medium-security prison in New York State. I know the name sounds weird, but I didn't make it up._

_BTW, are there any fans of _Degrassi_ out there who might have picked up on my shout-out? :-D_

_Mindy's dialogue outside of Jacob B. Jeremiah's door is an homage to the 1986 movie _Running Scared. _For anyone who hasn't seen it, check it out. It's a really enjoyable buddy-cop film._

_The name "Babe Ruthless" I got from the movie _Whip-It_. The name amused me greatly and I thought it was perfect for the character I assigned it_ to.

_As everyone knows, I'm not too proud to plead for reviews. :-D Again, the more reviews I get, the more inspired I am to write and update sooner. :-D_

_And awayyyyyy we go._ :-)

Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl: The War on Crime, Chapter III

The Mistmobile cruised smoothly over The Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, carrying Dave and Mindy over the East River and into New York City's northernmost borough.

"The Bronx" Mindy observed as they emerged onto the Bronx side of the River and Dave steered them towards Nelson Avenue in Highbridge, which was their quarry's address, according to Angela; "We don't seem to come up here too often."

"We don't." Dave agreed. The two of them rarely made general patrols in The Bronx. Queens and Brooklyn kept them busy enough, although they did go occasionally into Manhattan for patrols as well as chasing down leads. The Bronx was far out of their area, and it also had its own good number of costumed heroes who apparently lived there and were dedicated to cleaning it up. Staten Island was also an area they didn't visit too often. But that was primarily due to the fact that the smallest borough, with its general suburban feel simply didn't fit their approach to crimefighting. As well, like The Bronx, Staten Island had its own homegrown superhero population that fought the good fight there.

"I wonder if our visit here tonight will be brought up at the J.F. meeting next week." Mindy pondered, in reference to the upcoming meeting of Justice Forever.

"Maybe; I guess it'll depend on how cooperative this guy is. And, it'll also depend on how long it takes work out the details of the Christmas Party. I mean, remember last year? It took two hours for that." Dave responded as he made sure he was following the directions given by the GPS.

"Oh hell, I was ready to lay into them with my balisong. How long does it take to settle a menu anyways?"

"When everyone wants their favourites added, a long time apparently. That's why we're the ones arranging the caterer this year." Dave responded.

Mindy positively cackled with glee. "Aw dude…I can't wait to see Dan Malone's face when he sees just who he's catering it for." Mindy planned to pick up the catering order in full costume.

Dave suppressed a smile of his own. Mindy took an almost childish delight in the fear she still inspired in the last living member of the D'Amico gang, turned chef/caterer and reluctant ally. "Yeah, I'm sure it'll be fun. And as I'm sure you're about to ask, no we can't order purple frosting for the cake."

"That's not fucking fair." Mindy pretended to pout. "You're getting green icing." She pointed out with a grin.

"Green's a traditional Christmas colour. Purple is not." Dave said with a laugh.

"It's still not fair Dave!" Mindy retorted with a laugh. "You get St. Patrick's Day too."

"Yeah, but look at it this way: purple's usually the colour of royalty AND everyone seems to think you're the most awesome costumed hero in New York." Dave said with a smile.

"People think I'm awesome, huh?" Mindy said with an arched eyebrow and a grin. She well knew what was said about her.

"I think you're awesome." Dave said softly as Mindy flashed a shy but genuine smile at him. There were times –and this was one of them- where he wished some sort of road closure or traffic tie-up would prevent them from reaching their destination. Just spending time alone in the car with Mindy had become so…pleasant for him that he hated when that time ended. He wondered if, someday, they'd ever be able to go on a road trip together. Not as Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl, but as Dave and Mindy: best friends…and hopefully (he would love) far, far more. He purged the thought from his mind. Mindy would never go for that, he was certain. And ever suggesting it would just be painful and humiliating. He refocused his attention to the GPS.

Mindy was glad of the darkness in the car. It was the only thing hiding the fact that she was blushing so hard her face now looked almost as red as Angela's hair. Her mind replayed what she just heard with glee: Dave thought she was awesome! Of course, over the years they'd known each other and worked together, Dave had expressed such thought numerous times. But, now such sentiments had a far deeper effect on her. Naturally, she knew Dave didn't think she was awesome in the way he would think of a girl he was interested in. But, it was, she figured, about the best she'd ever receive from him and she accepted it. Mindy bit down on her lower-lip to keep herself from giggling. (She, as a rule, only descended into such idiotic giggling fits when she hung out with Angela and they discussed issues far removed from her Hit-Girl persona. She couldn't allow Dave to see her giggling like some giddy schoolgirl on her way to a Justin Bieber concert.)

"I think we're coming up on the Jeremiah's place." Dave said, breaking the not-uncomfortable silence in the car. "Better check in with Angela and see if she has anything else for us."

"I'm on it like Ernie on Bert…or vice versa." Mindy said with a smirk as she activated her iPhone (one that was reserved for "work" only). "We're here now. Do you have anything new?"

"Yeah, I have." Came Angela's reply. "Jacob B. Jeremiah. He graduated from Millard Fillmore High School six years ago. I'm looking at his transcripts, and he wasn't exactly valedictorian material. I suspect he was graduated because the faculty didn't want him around any longer."

"He's that dumb?"

"What he lacks in intelligence he made up for in bad behaviour. Oh, and he's had more than a few run-ins with the law. He's had about eight arrests, at least. He's had three separate stretches in Riker's Island, and a stay up at Wall-Kill too"

"What was he in for?" Mindy asked. She heard Angela working her keyboard over the speaker.

"Wow, what a surprise…Not. He's been picked up for all types of stuff. But he was given three years at Wall-Kill on a narcotics rap. He did about eighteen months and got paroled about six months ago."

"He was paroled in June?" Dave spoke up from the driver's seat after pulling the Mistmobile into a parking spot.

"That's right."

"That'd be enough time for the Fillmore Fighters to have started on juice to really pump up over the summer." Dave mused as he did mental calculations.

"That works out." Angela said.

"Can you send us a recent picture?"

"Sure can. I'm sending one from his yearbook picture and one from his most recent picture from when he was released." Angela said. "Ok, they've been sent. Do you see them?"

Mindy opened up the image on the iPod and looked at their quarry. His yearbook photo was a cocky looking teenager in a Hawaiian shirt, fedora hat and a smirk. The updated picture showed him looking a lot older –far more than the six years of chronological time that had passed- but still had the cocky smirk and fedora hat. "We've got them. He looks like a real mastermind doesn't he?"

Dave looked over at the picture. "It's like Keyser Soze come to life." He said sarcastically. Jeremiah didn't look that much different than any of the common lowlifes he and Mindy took off the streets on a nightly basis. He suppressed a sigh of disappointment. This case was on track to be wrapped up in one night and would be slam-dunk. "What's listed as his place of employment?" He asked, knowing that staying employed was a regular condition of parole.

"I'm looking at that right now. Let me see...OK, he's working at a carwash. At least that's what his parole report says. Oh, I'm at headquarters now."

"Ok. Let us know when you have the information. Why'd you go to headquarters anyways?" Mindy asked.

"Crosshairs is working on some equipment, and I thought I'd keep him company." Angela replied. (She was careful to never use real names when on the "work" phone. There was always a slim chance their encryption had been broken.

"Gotcha; we're going to see what our favourite hat-wearer knows. Hit-Girl out." Mindy said, disconnecting the call.

In Queens, in a former garage that now served as Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl's headquarters and garage for the Mistmobile (Years earlier, Dave and Mindy had saved the owner's teenage daughters from a mugger who was also known for raping and often killing his victims. Their grateful father, having no use for the building, rented it out to Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl for one dollar a month plus utilities.), Angela swiveled around in her chair and looked at her companion for the evening.

"Mindy said the guy doesn't look too serious."

"They won't need any help?" Crosshairs asked as he looked up from his work.

"It doesn't look like it." The redhead responded. "Sorry Todd. I guess you're stuck here with me."

"That's alright." Todd Haynes, aka Crosshairs, said with shy grin. "Oh, I put some coffee on if you want some."

"You're the best." Angela said with a smile as she turned back to her computer console.

Todd looked at Angela for a few more seconds and smiled to himself as her words repeated in his head. Then, still smiling, he resumed his maintenance work on Dave's Plumett AL-52 grappling hook launcher. He hoped to have his prototype miniaturized version ready by springtime. He cast a glance at Angela again then refocused on his work.

Back in the Bronx, Dave and Mindy were perched on a rooftop overlooking the courtyard on the housing project that Jeremiah lived in. They were keeping an eye on his building, after ascertaining he wasn't home yet. In the courtyard below, a gang of very tough looking locals were playing basketball. Earlier, Dave and Mindy had watched them intimidate some innocent looking younger kids into going home and leaving them the court. Ordinarily Dave and Mindy would have stepped in and taught them a lesson, but Jeremiah was their priority and they couldn't afford to reveal their presence yet.

"I hope he gets home soon." Mindy grumbled. "It's fucking freezing up here."

"It could be worse." Dave said mildly. "It could be raining." Just then, there was a gust of wind that marked the start of snow flurries. Mindy affixed Dave with a glare.

"Oh, you just had to say it, Ass-Kick!" She said with drama.

"Sorry" Dave laughed. He looked and saw, despite the poor lighting atop their perch, snow starting to settle on Mindy's purple wig. One snowflake fell gently and landed right on the tip of Mindy's nose. Dave smiled and reached over to gently lift the snowflake off.

Mindy felt her whole body shudder as Dave gently lifted the snowflake off of her nose. Dave smiled at her goofily –made even more goofy by the fact that all she could see of him was his mouth and eyes beneath his mask. Something broke in her just then. She made a decision. She was going to do it. She was going to grab him, kiss him and tell him how she felt about him. She took a breath to focus herself.

"Dave..." She began…

"Mindy, look!" Dave suddenly said, pointing to the ground. Mindy mentally cursed as the moment had been shattered. She was so close…She sighed and looked down and saw what Dave had noticed.

It was Jacob B. Jeremiah –there was no mistaking him with that fedora- and he was getting out of a car. And it wasn't just any car, but a Mercedes S-600.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Mindy asked as they made their way to where there ropes were fastened.

"You bet. How does a low-level, low-life street dealer end up being driven around in a Mercedes?"

"I'm guessing it's his bosses' car."

"That sounds right to me." Dave said as he fastened himself to his rope while Mindy secured her bo-staff behind her back and then did the same with hers. "And unless he's working at a really successful car wash, I'd bet five bucks it's not whoever he reports to at his day job."

"Yeah, that Benz was way too filthy for that."

"In more ways than one." Dave deadpanned as he stepped off the roof for a rapid descent to the ground along his rope.

"Damn straight." Mindy replied as she followed on her own rope.

Once on the ground, the two crimefighters dashed through the shadows to where Jacob B. Jeremiah was approaching his building entrance. Dave kept an eye on their suspect while Mindy studied the Mercedes Benz. It was black, with tinted windows that prevented her from seeing inside. She did, however, memorize the license plate. This would definitely warrant some investigation afterwards.

The car then pulled away, which was what Dave and Mindy were waiting for. They wanted to take down their quarry quickly and quietly. There was no telling who was in the car and what they were armed with. Although the duo had no worries about their ability to handle any contingency, they didn't want to create a scene outside if they could avoid it.

Jacob B. Jeremiah, a backpack slung over his shoulder, was apparently oblivious to the masked manhunters who were now on his scent. He was chuckling to himself and stroking his pencil thin mustache and soul patch as he walked. Gold chains that were in view from his half-opened leather jacket gleamed in the building's security lights as he walked along. He reached into his pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a switchblade comb. As he removed his fedora to give his –heavily gelled- hair a onceover, he dropped his comb. It fell behind him. Turning around, he caught side of what had become the ultimate bad dream of every criminal who plied their evil trade within New York City: Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl standing behind him.

Jeremiah's eyes went wide with terror. He uttered a curse and took off towards his building. Dave and Mindy broke into a run and took off in pursuit. They'd not planned on a chase. They'd planned to grab their quarry before he even knew they were there. But, as the last four years had taught them, a crimefighter always had to be ready to improvise.

Jacob B. Jeremiah burst through the security door of his building. He tried to slam it shut to that Dave and Mindy would be locked out. But, he quickly realized it was too heavy to move fast and that staying to try and close it guaranteed they would get their hands on him before he could get it shut. He bolted for the stairwell.

Dave and Mindy vaulted up the building steps and crashed through the security door. Mindy saw Jeremiah dashing for the stairwell. Dave put on a burst of speed and broke away from Mindy. They both knew that with Dave's longer legs –that allowed him a far greater stride- he had the best chance of catching Jeremiah.

Jeremiah led Dave up five flights in the stairwells. His breathing was coming in ragged gasps from the exertion. He cast a glance downward and saw –like a bad dream- the green-clad figure of Kick-Ass charging up the stairs at him. His scream was stopped by the fact that he was so exhausted he was close to vomiting. The drug dealer tore through a landing door and bolted for his apartment.

Dave was charging up the stairs, hot on Jeremiah's heels. Despite the hard effort, he wasn't even breathing that hard. He did have to be wary as he took each corner of the stairwell that Jeremiah hadn't stopped to try and draw a gun on him from an upper landing, and that slowed him down slightly. He didn't think it was likely, as the hoodlum would have probably tried to shoot at them before now. But, Dave and Mindy hadn't gotten to where they were by being careless. He could hear his prey's ragged breathing. The guy must not be into jogging, or anything, Dave thought to himself with a smile. Dave was hot on Jeremiah's heels as he burst through the landing door and dashed down the hallway, frantically unlocking his apartment door as Dave was upon him.

Jacob B. Jeremiah frantically ran into his apartment and then slammed the door shut…or tried to. To his dismay, Kick-Ass had gotten there in time and had, almost like the stereotypical door-to-door salesman, stuck his foot in the door, keeping it from being shut and engaging the lock. Dave pushed against the door as hard as he could, but Jeremiah had braced his legs against the narrow hallway wall and was pushing back against him.

For a moment it was a standoff. Ordinarily, Dave could easily have forced his way in as he was far stronger than Jeremiah. However, with his foot in the door to keep it from being locked, Dave couldn't get any leverage to really push; especially with Jeremiah bracing himself against the wall. Jeremiah, on the flip side, despite the fear-induced adrenalin aiding his muscles, simply couldn't push enough on the door to stop Kick-Ass or –as he was hoping- squeeze his foot enough to force him to back out. (Jeremiah was completely ignorant of the fact that Kick-Ass only felt a small fraction of the pain inflicted on him, as well as the fact that he was wearing steel-toed boots that effectively shielded his foot no matter what.) It would be a short-lived standoff as Kick-Ass, Jeremiah then remembered, didn't work alone.

Dave looked down the hallway and saw a purple blur emerge from the stairwell and charge down the hallway. Mindy in action, as always, was a majestic sight. Her purple cape billowing behind her as she ran, her wig fluttering as she moved, and her wondrous blue eyes piercing out from behind her mask. Dave's heart raced as he watched her and admired her beauty.

"Why can't these fucktards ever live on the ground floor?" Mindy sighed as she came to a halt.

"Let's ask him." Dave said in a low growl.

"If there's anything left of him, we can." Mindy said in a voice that was meant for their quarry to hear. "Where is he?"

"He's directly on the other side of this door."

"That's not going to be a problem, Kick-Ass." Mindy yelled out. "Jeremiah!" She called out loudly. "I know you're behind the door! Now, I…" she said as she pulled the blades of her bo-staff apart "Have these two very sharp swords. In three seconds I'm going to drive them through the door. If you happen to still be standing in front of said door...Well, what can I say? The swords are going to go through you as well. Is that scenario I've just described giving you a definitive courses of action to undertake?"

There was a resigned whimper from inside the apartment and Jacob B. Jeremiah stepped out of the way and allowed the two crimefighters in. Dave and Mindy looked around the squalid apartment. They'd seen some pretty nasty looking places in their years of carrying out The Mission. But, this was definitely in the Bottom Five.

Dave grabbed Jeremiah, threw him against the wall and proceeded to do a quick search of him.

"I hear you're dealing again." Dave growled at him.

"Where the fuck did you hear that?" Jeremiah said in a most unwise attempt to be a tough guy. Dave slammed his head into the cheap plaster wall that crumbled slightly under the impact.

"Don't play games with us! This is our city. You so much as sneeze and we know it. You sell drugs to high school students and we're going to know about it and we're going to come for you!" Dave said with a positively animalistic snarl as he pushed Jeremiah's face into the plaster with enough force that his nose was being mashed back and tears were coming to his eyes.

Mindy shivered inwardly as she watched the interrogation. Dave being so…forceful…always turned her on in a big way. She pushed her own thoughts down and undertook a quick search of the apartment. She started with the knapsack Jeremiah had dropped. She unzipped it and stared inside as many faces of Benjamin Franklin stared back up at her. She did an inspection of the money. There stacks were all of hundred dollar bills and a lot of them. By Mindy's estimate there had to be over $250,000 dollars here.

"Well, I guess working at a car-wash pays well if you say you're not dealing again; and in cash too." Mindy said with a smirk. She dug deeper and pulled out a dozen small baggies of what looked like large crystals. Mindy recognized it instantly: methamphetamine. "How fitting that it's starting to snow outside, as you have some Ice in your bag." She said with a feigned tone of sadness. On cue, Dave slammed Jeremiah into the wall again, cracking the plaster more and causing a small cloud of dust to fly out of the wall.

"Not dealing, huh? Do you think we're as stupid as you are? Fuck it, I'm not going to clog up the system with filth like you any longer!" Dave roared at him.

"What?" Jeremiah screamed in fright.

"Haven't you heard? Meth makes you do crazy shit! You're going to overdose on this and try to fly out of your window."

"We're five stories up!"

"That's the idea! It's time you learned a lesson from Sir Isaac Newton. You'll go like that Armenian douche who tried to fly off a building with wings."

"You can't!"

"Oh, we can." Mindy interjected pleasantly as Dave effortlessly hoisted Jeremiah up in the air until his feet were a foot off the floor and began to walk over to the window. "Can you give us any reason why we shouldn't?"

"I'll talk!"

"You've been talking since we got here. But you haven't told us anything we want to know…so far."

"What do you want to know?" Jeremiah pleaded through tears. A wet spot appeared on his pants and yellowish liquid trickled down his pant cuffs. Mindy suppressed an approving smile. Dave had never been able to scare anyone enough that they'd wet themselves before. God, he was turning her on tonight.

"Who're you working for? Who's supplying you?" Dave snarled as she slammed Jeremiah's head –this time, the back of it- into the cheap plaster wall again. From out of the cloud of plaster dust, Jacob Jeremiah choked out an answer.

"I don't know his name." The humbled hoodlum pleaded.

"That's not even original! Start flapping your arms pal, maybe all that hair gel will break your fall and let you bounce!" Dave growled.

"I swear to God!" Jeremiah pleaded. Dave suppressed a smile and –barely- restrained himself from screaming out 'Swear to me!', as he thought that would be overdoing it, plus he knew he could never do that as well as Christian Bale could.

"Who do you report to?" He barked.

"The guy I answer to is called Mike the Mooch!"

"Mike the Mooch? Seriously?" Mindy asked.

"I swear. He has a corner of his own over in Queens!"

"Where in Queens?"

"Over by Citi Field." Jeremiah pleaded. "He's got another one in Brooklyn, in Crown Heights, close to where Ebbets Field was, but he's mainly by Citi Field! I swear to God!"

Dave brought the thug's quivering face close to his own and growled under his breath. "What does this 'Mike the Mooch' look like?"

"He's a big guy; he's a little taller than me but has to weigh three hundred pounds! He's Italian-Samoan! He always wears a New York Mets jacket; he's got a goatee and a mullet!"

"When's he on his corner?"

"He usually starts out there around four in the afternoon!"

"Whose car was that?"

"What car?" Jeremiah squeaked out. For a third time, his head was bashed into the wall and another cloud of plaster dust wafted up.

"The Mercedes that dropped you off here tonight! You didn't think we'd notice it?"

"I don't know who owns it, but the guy who was driving it was telling me that Mike was saying good things about me."

"Is that where you got the money?"

"Yeah, it was to set up production, they said to cover off Manhattan and the Bronx."

"What do you mean?"

"They wanted to set up a lab and get retailers…" Jeremiah was interrupted as Kick-Ass smacked him across the face with his sap glove. He whimpered pathetically and spat blood out of his mouth onto the dirty floor.

"Don't try and pussyfoot around by calling yourself a retailer. You're a pusher! Don't pretend you're not!"

"Alright! They wanted to get pushers working in Manhattan, Harlem and the Bronx." Jeremiah blubbered pathetically.

"Harlem IS in Manhattan, you fucktard." Mindy sighed.

"Where're they pushing their poison now?" Dave growled, ignoring Jeremiah's shaky grasp of New York City's geography.

"They're all working close to the production area: in Brooklyn and Queens. I heard them say a few guys might want to try out on Long Island after New Year's."

"That's where your lab is now: Brooklyn or Queens?"

"Yeah, but I swear to Christ I don't know where!"

Dave turned to look at Mindy. "What do you think, Hit-Girl? What should we do with him?"

"If we throw him the window, he'll crack the pavement and the kids might not be able to play basketball anymore. Ah fuck it, I can't think of anything much worse than Christmas in jail." Mindy said after appearing to ponder the question over. "So, Jacob, here's what you're going to do…." Mindy said as she explained what Jacob B. Jeremiah was to do if he wanted to keep breathing.

A short while later a New York Police Department patrol car cruised smoothly down Nelson Avenue. The two officers in the car made idle chit-chat as they scoped out their patrol area as the 3pm-11pm shift passed quietly. Just then, a man in a leather jacket, gold chains and a fedora hat came running into the road. The officer driving slammed on the brakes and looked over at her partner. Her partner just sighed and shone a light on the man in the road.

"Hey! Officers! I want to give myself up!"

"Can you repeat that please?" The officer from the passenger side of the car asked as he rolled down the window.

"I want you to arrest me! I've been dealing drugs...to schoolkids!" The man cried as he threw some plastic baggies onto the asphault in front of him, knelt down in the middle of the road and put his hands in the air. He looked like he was terrified of something. His mouth was bleeding and his head looked like it was covered in what seemed to be plaster dust.

"I love it when they make it easy for us." The officer behind the wheel said as the two patrol officers got out of the unit. She drew her gun to cover while her partner circled and approached the suspect from behind.

From the shadows of the building, Dave and Mindy watched as Jacob B. Jeremiah, now relieved of cash but still in possession of the methamphetamine was taken into custody by patrol officers from the 44th Precinct.

"Well, I guess he won't be attending his ten-year graduation reunion." Dave said with a satisfied smile on face.

"Probably not, but you can never tell with the parole board." Mindy said sagely. "By the way, you were fucking amazing in there. I've never seen you scare anyone into pissing themselves before."

"Thanks" Dave said sheepishly. He was still amazed at how far he'd come in the years since he and Mindy first became a team. "Hey, didn't you say once that I wasn't cut out to be 'bad cop', when we do 'good cop/bad cop'?"

"Well, a girl can be wrong, you know." Mindy said with a smile. As proud –and aroused- as she was by Dave's sheer ferocious intensity in their interrogation of Jeremiah, she was still a little upset that she'd missed her chance on the rooftop to finally open up her heart to him. Mindy suppressed a sigh, as she figured it just wasn't meant to be.

The duo, now carrying the $250,000 that was to have been start-up funds for another drug lab and distribution chain, began their walk back to where the Mistmobile was parked. Mindy saw that the local tough guys were still dominating the basketball court. She smirked, pulled her iPhone from her belt and dialed in to their headquarters.

"Scarlet-Wiki" Angela answered.

"It's us."

"How'd it go?"

"Purr-fect. Our least favourite Fillmore grad is now in police custody and we have a new lead. And…I think we'll need you and Crosshairs on this one."

"When do you need us?"

"Tomorrow. Are you two still at headquarters?"

"Yes"

"We're about to head back there now. Can you start a check on a license plate for us?"

"Sure can."

"Sweet" Mindy replied as she related the Mercedes' plate details to Angela, aka The Scarlet-Wiki. She was about to end the call when she remembered something…the punks who'd chased those kids from the basketball court. "Oh, one other thing..."

"Yeah?"

"You have contact information for any Justice Forever members working in the Bronx, don't you?"

"I surely do."

"Can you give them a call and ask them to drop by here? There are a bunch of punks on the basketball court where Jeremiah lived who need to be taught some manners."

"I'm on it. Oh, how about The Bronx Bomber and Babe Ruthless?"

"Oh shit, that's sweet. Those two are awesome." Mindy laughed. "Don't you think so?" Mindy said to Dave with a sarcastic chuckle. Dave shrugged his shoulders and waved his hand as if uncertain, as he smiled. Mindy chuckled again. The Bronx Bomber and Babe Ruthless were a boyfriend-girlfriend team that operated out of The Bronx. Their names came from the fact they were both fanatical fans of the New York Yankees. Their costumes were patterned off of classic Yankees livery (basically it was if the Yankees wore body armour and masks when they played) and –surprise, surprise- their favourite crimefighting equipment was baseball bats. The two were actually quite competent though –even if their emotional state varied in late September and into October, depending on how The Pinstripes were faring in the playoff race. Dave well knew they were good at the job, but was torn by the fact that –as a native of Queens- he felt he should be at least somewhat loyal to the New York Mets.

"Ok. I called them and they're on the way. Oh, I told them that the punks all look to be Red Sox and Orioles fans."

"Bra-fucking-vo" Mindy said with a laugh. "That'll get them worked up."

"Crosshairs and I will be waiting for you."

"Awesome. We'll be there as soon as we can." Mindy said as she disconnected the call.

Soon enough, Dave and Mindy were back in the Mistmobile. Dave started the engine and steered them back to the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. Mindy adjusted the car's heating and rubbed her exposed ears to warm them up.

"Are you cold?"

"A little."

"Want to stop for hot chocolate?"

"I don't think we could go into a Starbucks in costume and keep our bad-ass image."

"You don't?"

"No…But I appreciate the offer." Mindy said as she touched Dave's hand briefly after adjusting the heat controls.

Dave shivered, and not from the cold, as he savoured her touch. He took a breath to calm himself. Then he spoke. "So what do you think our plan would be for tomorrow?"

"Well, we need to find out who's running this."

"Well, once we get that plate traced we should have something. I think we should trace back the distribution chain back. Find where the lab is."

"I totally agree. That's what we're going to start tomorrow. We're going to identify Mike the Mooch and trace him back."

"How do you think we should trace him back?"

"That's where Angela and I come in. I somehow doubt he'll expect a couple girls our age to be a threat."

"They never have before." Dave said with a smile as he recalled past operations. "What'll you two be doing: Scottish shortbread, Irish soda bread or music?"

"I think the Celtic Chicks are going to make their re-appearance."

"Sweet" Dave said. "I'll watch from the street and Todd takes his usual job."

"Sound good." Mindy said with a smile as they drove back over the East River to plan the next day's campaign in their war on crime.


	4. Chapter 4

_Greetings dear readers.  
><em>

_A thousand pardons for the delay in the update. I had this chapter written out a week ago, but I was unable to get it posted. For some reason, I couldn't upload it. _

_ A HUGE shout-out to Makokam in assisting in getting this uploaded._ _Thanks so much! _

_ Another shout-out to forcedInduction for his advice in technical matters regarding communication devices. (Check out his fic "Fall Damage", if you haven't already. :)_

_ I hope everyone is having a happy St. Patrick's Day. How fitting that a chapter featuring The Celtic Chicks is published today. __J_

_ I guess you all know by now that I'm addicted to reviews. Methadone doesn't work. Please stop my withdrawal by sating the addiction. :__)_

_ And awayyyyy we go!_

* * *

><p>Dave drove the Mistmobile into the former garage that now served as their main safehousegarage. He shut off the motor as he and Mindy egressed from the car. Stretching his back after the drive back from the Bronx he saw Crosshairs approaching from their weapons locker.

"Hey Todd." Dave said with a smile at his oldest friend as he pulled off his mask.

"Hey Dave. How'd it go?" Todd responded as he wiped his hands clean with a rag.

"We got a name off of him. Mike the Mooch."

"Seriously?"

"That's what our now incarcerated fellow-alumni told us."

"How long before he gave it up?"

"About five second after the douche pissed himself!" Mindy piped up from the passenger side of the car as she removed her own mask and wig.

"He pissed his pants?"

"Damn straight. It was a beautiful sight. Dave nearly put his head through the wall at least three times. The fucker looked like an unholy mix of blood, piss and plaster dust by the time we sent him into the streets to find some cops to surrender to." Mindy said with a contended sigh as she recalled the memory…and how wet she got at watching Dave reduce the would-be-tough-guy drug dealer into a quivering mass of gelatinous fear.

"Sure. You two are out gallivanting all night! And what about me, stuck here repairing your grapple gun, restocking the flashbangs and tear-gas grenades?" Todd said in a clearly faked tone of resentment as Dave laughed. "You never take me out anyplace, anymore! I'm left babysitting the Scarlet-Wiki!" Todd said in a teasing tone.

"I heard that!" Came a voice from what had been the garage's office, as Angela emerged and walked out into the carport. She fixed Todd with a glare that was offset by her good-natured smile. "I'm the one who came to keep you company."

"Children, children…" Dave said with a laugh. "We got some good intelligence from Jeremiah; which is ironic, as he had to be one of the least intelligent guys we've handled in a while. He said that the next guy up from him is someone with the handle Mike the Mooch and whose favourite corner is by Citi Field."

"I checked out that name when you guys were on your way back. I didn't find anything. There's nobody in the police database who goes by that streetname." Angela said. "Oh, by the way, The Bronx Bomber and Babe Ruthless just checked back in. They lived up their names and the basketball court is now free of thuggish bullies. The residents may want to hose the blood off the court though before the next game." The redheaded hacker reported.

"Do you think he hasn't been arrested for anything yet?" Todd speculated as he poured two cups of coffee from the coffee maker and handed a cup to Angela with a shy smile. Angela responded with her own smile as she accepted it.

"I can't see that." Mindy said as she pulled her blonde hair free from its bun and let it fall down over her shoulders. "These guys are low-level thugs. Jacob B. Jeremiah would've had to have gone to Fordham for four years just to upgrade to 'shit for brains'. I'd bet any money that the next piece of shit above him isn't a whole hell of a lot smarter. So, I don't see Mike the Mooch as smart enough or lucky enough to have never been arrested before."

"So, what's the next step?" Angela asked as she pushed back her red hair over her shoulder.

"That's why we wanted you two here." Dave said. "We have a plan, but it's going to need all four of us out on this one."

"We're going to do some undercover work." Mindy said as she noted the smiles on Todd and Angela's faces. "Tomorrow, Angela and I are going to introduce ourselves to Mike the Mooch."

"What're we going undercover as?" Angela said with barely contained enthusiasm.

"Take a guess." Mindy said with a smile.

"The Celtic Chicks?" Angela said with her eyes wide with hopeful glee. She loved the occasional opportunity to get out in the field.

"Damn straight" Mindy replied as Angela let out a protracted 'squeeee' as Todd laughed at Angela's sheer enthusiasm.

"I love doing The Celtic Chicks!" Angela giggled.

"We know." Dave said in a deadpan voice. "Alright, so, Mindy and Angela will be promoting the upcoming CD of The Celtic Chicks. I'll be back-up down at street level. Todd, you'll do your usual job with the XM2010."

"I'll have to have a look around the area. I need to see what my vantage points will be. What time are we doing this?

"The guy's supposedly on his corner around four in the afternoon. Mindy and I were thinking we'd do this around five, when it's dark."

"That's no problem. I'll pack my low-light scope. Do you think I'll be really needed?" Todd asked, in reference to his other unique skill set that had given him his _nom de guerre_.

"It's very highly unlikely. We're making a simple approach then leaving. I don't see anything bad going down." Mindy said. Todd nodded at her words.

"Ok, but I still want to look over that area tonight so I'll have an idea what to expect tomorrow. I think I'll swing by there on the way home…" Todd said until he remembered he was Angela's ride home. "Do you mind?" He asked the redhead.

"Not at all." Angela replied, suppressing a smile at the thought of spending extra time with Todd in the car.

"Cool." Todd replied. This was turning out to be a great night. First, Angela came in to keep him company and now she was coming with him on his reconnaissance detour. He smiled to himself as he admired how her red hair seemed to contrast so nicely with her white Millard Fillmore High Cheerleaders sweatshirt.

"Angela, did you get anything off of the license plate we gave you?" Dave asked.

"Yeah, it's registered to Irving Klein of Long Island." Angela said as she consulted her steno-pad.

"Irving Klein…." Mindy repeated thoughtfully. "Why does that name sound familiar?"

"You've probably read about him. I did a Google search and got a ton of hits. All of them involve criminal cases in the courts. He's a defense lawyer. And the vast majority of his clients, at least from what the articles indicate, are soldiers for the various crime families in the city."

"A mob lawyer?" Dave said as he pondered the situation. "Well, that explains the Mercedes S-600. However, it doesn't explain why a low-level pusher like Jeremiah is doing being driven around by a mob lawyer."

"Who defended Jeremiah on his last court appearance?" Mindy asked.

"It was somebody from the Public Defender's office. Jeremiah pled guilty at his arraignment and got three years at Wall-Kill."

"Could the guy be working pro-bono?" Todd asked as he looked up from putting his tools away.

"Klein? No way. His reputation is that he doesn't care if you're guilty, only that you can pay. He believes in innocent until proven broke. And his fees are right up there." Angela replied.

"Hey. What about the most obvious thing that we've obviously forgotten here?" Dave said. "Jeremiah wasn't under arrest or in any sort of legal trouble until after we got through with him. He wouldn't need a defense lawyer. And there's all that cash he was carrying…." Dave said as his voice trailed off.

"Klein's helping set-up the drug labs in Manhattan and The Bronx?" Mindy pondered.

"It sure looks that way." Dave said as he suppressed a smile. The case was bigger than he'd anticipated. He only hoped it proved to be a real challenge. "Right…After we get a real name off of Mike the Mooch, we can trace him back and see if he's tied into anyone. We'll crosscheck it with anyone who Klein has represented in court and see if we get any matches." He was already feeling the stirrings of excitement the chase always gave him. This Mike the Mooch was probably a small time loser. But, once they worked their way up the chain, he hoped they could find someone who would truly be a challenge for them.

"That's a start." Mindy agreed. She recognized the look on Dave's face. He was feeling it now, she knew. He'd gotten a first scent of a quarry and now the hunt was beginning. The game was on.

"I just hope it's not a finish." Dave replied. He noticed Todd and Angela had pulled their coats on and were getting to leave.

"You two are heading home?" He asked.

"Yeah, well, we're going to swing by Citi Field first and look around the area, then home. We'll meet up at your place tomorrow?" Todd asked.

"That's right. Angela and I need to suit up. Can you be there around four?"

"We'll be there." Angela said as Todd help the door open for her as they departed. Dave and Mindy noted the animated way Todd and Angela were talking as they walked back to Todd's car. Mindy noted how Angela made a point of gently touching Todd's arm when she spoke to him. She smiled to herself as she saw how smitten Angela clearly was with Todd…and Todd was definitely reciprocating the interest. She sighed to herself as she wished Dave felt that way about her. She stifled a giggle at the thought of how weird, but cool it would be, if the four of them went on a double-date together. She sighed forlornly and turned to her partner.

"You really rocked it in the Bronx tonight." Mindy said with a smile.

"Thanks. I just went with what came naturally."

"Hm. I remember when your 'natural' instinct in a drug dealer's apartment was to freak out on the floor while I took care of them." Mindy said with an arched eyebrow and a grin.

"Yeah, that wasn't my finest hour." Dave admitted sheepishly. He still recalled the sheer shock that bordered on paralytic fear he'd felt as he watched the little girl in a purple costume effortlessly and savagely slaughter an entire roomful of large, grown men.

"That's a classic understatement. But, tonight…I'd say you'd have had Rasul pissing himself." Mindy said with a proud smile as she touched Dave's arm gently.

Dave suppressed a shiver as Mindy's hand –now shed of her reinforced gloves- touched his arm. He liked it when she touched him like that. He liked it when she complimented him on the progress he'd made as a costumed crimefighter since that night they first met, almost four years ago now.

"Well, what can I say? I had the best teacher in the world."

"Oh stop." Mindy said, even though she loved hearing him compliment her on the job she'd done in turning him from the geeky, self-described 'dick in a wetsuit' into the brutally efficient, cunning and feared costumed hero that now stood at her side every night as her equal partner.

"No. It's the truth." Dave said with a smile as he touched her hand with his own. He forced himself to bite down on his lip to keep himself from reacting to how wonderful her bare skin felt against his. For a brief moment he wondered what would happen if he should tell her how he felt about her and how badly he wanted to be with her. What would happen?

"Mindy…." Dave began.

"Yeah?" Mindy said, peering at him with those hauntingly beautiful blue eyes. A dozen different reactions ran through Dave's mind at what would happen if he spilled his guts right then, to her. None of them were good. He felt his courage drain from him. He couldn't wreck what they had by his own selfish desire for more.

"Um, maybe we could change and get that hot chocolate we talked about earlier, on the way home. It's my treat." Dave said sheepishly, internally cursing himself for his lack of courage.

Mindy gave him an adorable half-smile. "With marshmallows?"

"How else do you take your hot chocolate?" Dave said with a laugh that he hoped didn't sound too faked.

"You're just too good to me you know." Mindy said as she went off to the washroom to change out of her costume.

"I could never be that to you." Dave said under his breath as he grabbed the gym bag with his civilian clothes and walked over to Angela's office to change out of his own work uniform.

The following afternoon, darkness was gathering in at the intersection of Willets Point Boulevard and 39th Street in the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park neighbourhood of Queens. Just as the last light was leaving the sky, a figure crept out onto the roof of a building that overlooked the intersection. Two blocks away was Citi Field, where the New York Mets played during the baseball season. He was dressed in a dark grey, two piece uniform. He wore a dark navy balaclava that came down from a watch cap, and he wore a pair of night-goggles that were currently pushed up on his forehead. On his chest, in muted red, he wore an emblem that resembled the crossed hairs of a rifle scope inside a circle. The emblem was his inspiration for his _nom de guerre_. Todd Haynes, known to the hero community as Crosshairs, crept to the edge of the roof and looked down at Willets Point Boulevard.

Todd raised a pair of binoculars to his eyes and scanned up and down the street. (The streetlights provided enough illumination so that he had no need for his night-vision goggles at the moment.) So far, there was nothing going on. This was a good vantage point. He could see up and down the street easily. He next opened up the case he was carrying and began to expertly assemble the XM2010 sniper rifle. Once it was assembled and the ammunition ready, he turned his attention back to the street.

He keyed his microphone.

"I'm in position at Vantage Point Alpha. Nothing so far."

"It's still early. Stand by, and I'll see if our friend is on any of the side streets." Dave replied to him in a low voice, from street level. "Can you see me?"

Todd looked over the edge again and caught sight of Dave. Todd couldn't help but laugh. Dave was dressed in a surplus Army jacket, had a red-haired wig on under a dark newsboy cap, along with a fake handlebar mustache and beard. He was walking up and down the street, wearing a sandwich board which read 'THE END IS NIGH!". Todd wondered if anyone would recognize the homage to Rorschach from _Watchmen_. That was the great thing about how Dave and Mindy worked, he thought. They had style.

Todd looked again and saw a newcomer moving into a corner to the north of his position. He looked with his binoculars and instantly saw that the newcomer was large. He had to weigh at least 300 pounds, as Jacob B. Jeremiah had told them. The guy also had a mullet, a goatee and was wearing a New York Mets jacket. Bingo. He keyed his microphone.

"We have the target."

"Where is he?"

"He looks to be a little north of you. He's just south of Stadium Coffee Shop."

"Ok. I see him. Shit, he's a big guy." Dave noted from street level.

"I noticed. Think there'll be trouble?"

"I seriously doubt it. Ok. Let The Celtic Chicks know it's time for them to do their thing."

"I'm on it." Todd replied. He pulled out his "work" phone and sent a simple text: 'Try Stadium Coffee Shop'.

Over on 126th Street, in the glare of Citi Field's lights Mindy's phone chirped a text alert. She pulled it out and read the text to her companion.

"Stadium Coffee Shop, he says. That has to be around here somewhere." Mindy said as she looked up and down 126th Street as Angela pulled out her iPhone and did a quick search.

"It's about two blocks over, on Willets Point Boulevard." Angela said, pointing down 38th Avenue.

"Eggs-cellent" Mindy said with a smirk as the two girls began to walk over the two blocks east. A few pedestrians gave them a second glance as they passed by. In truth, the two were not dressed like typical high school students from Queens. Mindy was wearing a tartan skirt, a tartan sash and a matching shawl. On her feet she wore ghillie shoes and she had a Tam-o-shanter bonnet on her head. Angela, meanwhile, was dressed in a bright green skirt, with an Irish tartan, and a white lace blouse under a green jacket and a dark green Tam-o-shanter, embroidered with a shamrock, on her head. She also wore ghillie shoes. They were each carrying a canvas bag.

Within minutes the duo turned right off of 38th Avenue onto Willets Point Boulevard and walked south to towards the Stadium Coffee Shop.

"There's Mike the Mooch." Mindy said quietly.

"He's big." Angela noted nervously.

"Shit. Don't worry about that. He's big but I sure as hell don't think he's fast. If something happens –which I really don't think will happen- there's no way he can lay a finger on us. Hell, he'd probably collapse or something if he tried to run more than three feet."

On his rooftop vantage point, Todd took a breath, and looked through his rifle scope, centering it on the scene in the street below. If Mike the Mooch were to try anything with Mindy and Angela –and for whatever reason they couldn't handle it themselves- he would put his skills to use. Of course, Todd could see that Mike the Mooch appeared to be one burrito away from a pretty bad myocardial infarction. He figured that he would not be needed. He figured his main job would be to just keep an eye on things from above.

Dave, wearing his sandwich board, also prowled along the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. He'd already figured Mike the Mooch would be no match for Mindy. His only worry was if there were other dealers working with the obese pusher who might involved. If that happened, he would be there in about three seconds flat. In the meantime, he observed Mindy and Angela go into the well-rehearsed act.

The two girls approached Mike the Mooch, who –now that they got a close look at him- really was a dead ringer for Comic Book Guy from _The Simpsons_, aside from his Italian-Samoan heritage. They stopped in front of him and smiled broadly.

"Hi" They chorused cheerfully.

"What can do for –or with- you two young ladies?" Mike the Mooch wheezed as he tried his best to look suave, rather than an extremely obese man with a bad haircut.

"Funny you should ask…" Began Mindy. "I'm Morag MacGonagle"

"And I'm Colleen Bridget Fitzgerald. And we're…" Continued Angela, her naturally enthusiastic personality shining through.

"The Celtic Chicks!" The two girls chorused in bubbly voices.

"The what?" Mike the Mooch asked as he wiped sweat –despite the cold December evening- from his brow.

"The Celtic Chicks." They repeated. "We're doing a compilation CD of Scottish" Continued Mindy.

"And Irish" Angela finished. "Folk music" They said together.

"This is going to be what our CD will look like." Angela said, pulling out a CD case from her bag. It was a picture of her and Mindy posing together in what looked like an Irish bar. (It was actually her own basement that boasted a wooden wet bar and dark wall panels. A little set dressing and it looked perfect for them to take the pictures.)

"You haven't made it yet?" Mike the Mooch asked as he accepted the CD and looked at the picture on the cover. His flabby jowls quivering as he looked both of the girls over. It wasn't hard to discern what he was thinking as he seemed to be mainly drawn to the fact that for the picture, Mindy and Angela were wearing short kilts and their blouses were unbuttoned at the top. Mindy suppressed a smirk. They'd dressed that way deliberately, figuring that it would draw the attention of most likely suspects.

"Not yet." Mindy said cheerfully. "We're just promoting for when we can afford to make it and get it distributed. Can we put you down for one?" Mindy asked as she subtly reached out with her –gloved- hand and retrieved the CD, that Mike the Mooch, had been practically molesting with his hands. She slid it back into her canvas bag…that held an evidence bag inside of it and closed both of them up.

"I don't think so sweetie. But, if you two are looking to make some cash, I know some people who'd pay you two some good money. A couple of hot young ladies such as yourselves…All you'd have to do is pose for some pictures. You'd make more than enough for your CD. And you'd get some fans who'd buy it afterwards too. All you two would have to do in the pictures is lose those cute outfits you're both wearing…and maybe get really close and personal with each other." The obese drug dealer said with a salacious leer.

Mindy and Angela exchanged a look then looked back at Mike the Mooch.

"Fat chance!" They chorused.

The two of them then broke into a chorus of embarrassed –and faked- giggling and simply set off on a brisk walk down towards 39th Avenue. Mindy reached into her pocket and took hold of her balisong. Angela, meanwhile, took hold of the tazer she was carrying. Both strained their ears to see if Mike the Mooch was trying to follow them. Neither was at all concerned about him being a threat to him. But, it would be best for their case if he didn't suspect anything was amiss –and being hospitalized by a pair of high school girls definitely counted as 'something amiss', which is why they hoped it wouldn't come to that. Mindy looked up at a building and was just able to make out the figure of Todd. Her phone chimed a text message. It was from Todd and informed her that Mike the Mooch wasn't following but had resumed standing at his corner.

"What a douche." Mindy growled. It was only the fact that Mike the Mooch might be their best link to finding the person above him that had kept her from breaking his face.

"Can you believe what he wanted us to do?"

"Oh, I believe it."

"You don't think anything should be done about him? I can't believe you didn't, well, break something on him." When the obese drug dealer had made his suggestion, Angela had been fully prepared for Mindy to do…well, what Mindy did really well.

"Oh, something will be done, and things will likely be broken on him, but not tonight. He's just the way to get the bigger fish." Mindy said as they resumed walking back to the arranged meeting place.

An hour later, the four were gathered in Dave and Mindy's lair. Todd, Angela and Mindy were sipping warm drinks to recover from either wearing weather inappropriate clothing or being perched on a cold rooftop. At a work table, beneath a high-intensity light, Dave was expertly applying fingerprint dust to the CD case.

"And voila, a veritable vichyssoise of verifiable fingerprints, which verily validates our vigilance this very evening." Dave said with a satisfied chuckle.

"How long were you rehearsing that?" Mindy asked in a deadpan tone accompanied by a smirk.

"An hour, or so. But we've got good prints." Dave said as he snapped some pictures of the prints and then began to lift them onto a sheet.

"Ok" Said Mindy once Dave had completed that task. "Now, we change and go see Marcus."

An hour later, Lieutenant Marcus Williams, walked out of One Police Plaza in Manhattan. He wondered idly what was happening now. Ten minutes previously, he'd gotten a text message, from Mindy, asking him to come outside.

Marcus wondered if it'd be Mindy greeting him –along with Dave, more than likely- or Hit-Girl with Kick-Ass with her. If he had to guess, it would be the former. (The area around One Police Plaza was simply too well lit, as well as covered by security cameras for a duo in costumes to get close and not be noticed.) As he descended the steps, he saw Mindy, looking like the regular girl that Marcus now accepted she'd never be, standing by the streetlights, Dave beside her. Well, Marcus thought, they're not in costume for a change. He saw them exchange words and smile at each other. Marcus sighed. In all honesty, he wasn't sure what worried him more. What they got up to when they were in costume...or what they did on their occasional evenings off when they just hung out. Whenever he came home from a night shift, he entered the house half-expecting/half-dreading walking in on the two of them in some sort of compromising position. He knew from their body language –and twenty years of police work had taught him to read body language very well- that nothing had happened between them...at least, not yet. However, he could see the way they simply clicked together and the looks Mindy gave Dave that a tempest was brewing. Ah, the joys of raising a teenage girl, Marcus thought. As he drew near, he saw that Mindy was carrying a Starbucks tray.

"Hi Marcus." She said.

"Hi Mindy. Hi Dave." Marcus said warily. "What brings you over here?"

"We thought you'd like a latte." Dave said pleasantly as he handed Marcus a take-out cup.

"Oh, thanks." Marcus said as he accepted the cup and took a tentative sip. It was just how he liked it; skim milk with a sweetener. "What's that?" He asked looking at the large brown bag.

"A lemon scone…and something else." Mindy said with an emphasis. Marcus looked into the bag and saw that there was a sealed envelope inside of it. He looked up questioningly.

"Fingerprints?" He sighed resignedly.

"Yes" Mindy said quietly.

"Fill me in when I get home. Thanks again for the coffee and scone." Marcus sighed as he waved to the duo and went back into the headquarters building. He'd drop the envelope off at the lab before heading back to his desk in the Major Case Squad office. He was damned lucky that the supervisor of the fingerprint section was a friend of his –and Damon's- going back to their days at the academy. As such, he was willing to run fingerprints through the computers for a check. As well, Marcus knew that a lot of cops now had unofficially begun working with various costumed heroes. The cops would offer up information while the costumed crimefighters would leave easy busts for the cops to bring in. Officially, the department refused to sanction 'vigilante justice' and said they'd arrest anyone in costume they caught carrying out acts of vigilante action. Unofficially, however, a lot of officers –of all ranks- had come to appreciate the fact that the city's costumed crimefighters could sometimes do things that the police couldn't and were able to get results due to not having to worry about legal niceties. It had become a standard 'unofficial' procedure for uniformed patrol officers or plain clothes anti-crime units who had come across costumed heroes making short work of various criminals, to simply ignore what was going on. The officers would just stand back and wait for the heroes to depart, and then suddenly 'notice' the criminals left behind and make arrests. All across the New York Police Department, it was well known that the 'official' position was bullshit and nobody was going to try and enforce it. (The Chief of Police was even heard to say –after a couple of pints of Guinness at last year's St. Patrick's Day celebrations- that they had enough work to do catching the official criminals. He certainly wasn't going to waste manpower and energy trying to catch people who were actually trying to help them out…even if some of them might be certifiable lunatics themselves.) Marcus was simply the contact for the two best heroes in the city. It was a knife's edge he walked and he knew it. He was a cop and he was actively assisting costumed vigilantes. However, he couldn't deny that Dave and Mindy got results. Nor could he deny that in a city where the police were often compromised by corruption, sometimes outsiders were needed to step in to help.

As he walked to the elevators, he wondered what type of case Dave and Mindy had found now. All Marcus knew so far was that if Dave and Mindy were after someone…It was only a matter of time until they brought the prey to ground. As he entered the elevator, Marcus shook his head and couldn't help but grin as he took a sip of his beverage. He'd grown up reading comic books, like most kids. (Although, in hindsight, he clearly was not as big a fan as Damon had been.) He remembered as a kid, occasionally playing at being the various characters in the comics. He'd never have dreamed in a million years that one day people would do it for real…and the part he would play was Commissioner Gordon._  
><em>


	5. Chapter 5

_Greetings dear readers. Sorry for the delay in the update, I've been BUSY._

_Again, this is shorter than I planned. But I decided to Makokam this chapter in order to get it up sooner. I hope everyone likes it. It's not a major chapter in terms of drama or action. It's more another piece of the puzzle in Dave and Mindy's detective work._

_I'm afraid I've caught the Mecha-74 (Read his fics, they're great!) and being unable to restrain myself from Crossover references. LOL (Hint: It's in the conversation Marcus has early on.)_

_FYI, I saw _Dark Shadows _and I loved it. I highly recommend it! I'm even thinking of doing a _Dark Shadows_ fic._

_Ok, everyone knows the drill by now. I'm not above begging for reviews. Please don't force me to demean myself that way. LOL_

_And awayyyyyy we go._

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><p>Marcus sat at his desk at One Police Plaza and looked from the case file on his desk in the Major Case Unit's office, to his computer terminal and back again. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he suppressed a sigh. Earlier in the shift, the squad he headed had been given notice of yet another truck hijacking. Since summer's end, there had been a dramatic uptick in this particular crime. So far, the only pattern was that the perpetrators were all wearing orange somewhere on them.<p>

Marcus re-read the file and muttered an obscenity. Apparently the perpetrators had begun to become far bolder in their appearance. Now, they were definitely wearing orange and had "TMC" stenciled on their jackets. Someone was apparently trying to make their mark and leave an impression. Marcus could remember a time when criminals tried to actually be anonymous. But now, it seemed that they all wanted to be as well known as the costumed heroes that now patrolled the city's streets.

His reverie was interrupted by someone approaching his desk. A middle-aged, red haired man who had a lieutenant's shield hooked to his belt and an identification badge for the crime lab dangling from his sport jacket.

"Algernon" Marcus said with a smile as he greeted his old friend from his academy days.

"Marcus" Algernon Caine responded with a smile of his own. "Getting set for Christmas?"

"I'm getting so many of these cases with orange guys; I'm not sure when I'll be able to go shopping. What about you?"

"Still have to get the kids' presents. You know how it is with them."

"Oh yeah"

"Hey, is that Mindy?" Algernon asked as he looked at the picture on Marcus' desk. "She's really growing up now. Does she have a boyfriend yet?"

Marcus sighed. "I think it's kind of complicated with her." He finally said, as he thought of the situation between Dave and Mindy.

"You're preaching to the choir buddy. I've gone through the teenage dating years with two and now a third is starting up. Shit, I wish Damon was around to see how she's turned out."

"So do I, Al. So do I."

Algernon looked around to make sure nobody was in earshot. "I can't believe that fucker Gigante is on the list to make Captain. Shit, I can tell you that if somebody had ever popped him, my guys in the lab would make sure that case wasn't solved. It's because of assholes like him that are the reason every other kook in the city is running around in a mask and costume. They think we can't get the job done because we're all crooked." The red-haired officer looked around again and pulled a manila envelope from beneath his sports jacket. "Speaking of people in costume, buddy, I've your latest unofficial request done up."

Marcus took the envelope and slipped it into his desk drawer. "Thanks"

"Anytime pal…But, can you settle something for me?"

"What?"

"Who am I doing these checks for?"

"What do you mean?"

"Come on man…You bring me prints, blood samples…all that stuff for me to unofficially run checks on…You've gotta be the contact man for some of these superheroes. Look, half the guys in the lab are doing this type of stuff. I've had to keep lab supplies separate for official stuff where we have actual case numbers and for ones where it's all done 'under the table'. Marcus, word was that you got the name of that Heffernan guy from some anonymous source, and then Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl just happen to have a sting set up to catch him a week or so later. We go back a long ways…So, come on…Is it THEM that you're doing this for?"

Marcus was unable to keep his expression neutral…and to a former narcotics cop like Algernon Caine, that was all he needed.

"Holy shit…It is them!" He whispered excitedly. Within the New York Police Department, Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl were easily regarded as the best of the cities costumed crimefighters.

"Al, you can't…"

"Marcus…I know the score. Like I said, half the work we do now gets handed off to people who dress for Halloween all year. I actually get a kick out of it."

Marcus sighed and rolled his eyes. Was he the only sane man left? "Well, I do appreciate the help. You've got to come on over for dinner sometime and we'll catch up."

"I'd like that. I've got to finish the Christmas shopping first. The only gift I've got picked out is for my cousin Horatio down in Miami."

"What'd you get him?"

"Same as every year: a new pair of sunglasses. He really likes his sunglasses. Well, I've got to get back to the lab. Give me a call when you want to get together." Algernon said with a smile as he walked back to the elevators.

Marcus looked at the envelope in his desk as he pondered Algernon Caine's words. Half the lab was doing off the record work for people in costume? He wondered just when the police department had seemingly decided to hand over the asylum keys to the lunatics. Of course, he was in no position to judge. After all, he was looked as the contact man for the two top superheroes in the city. Marcus sighed again and returned to the hijacking case.

That evening, in The Lair, Mindy trotted down the steps to find Dave seemingly immersed with something on the computer.

"Hey Mindy" Dave said without looking up.

"Hey yourself" Mindy replied as she pulled up a chair next to him. "What's so interesting? Lindsay Lohan had another picture taken showing her snatch?"

"Nah…I already looked." Dave said absentmindedly, not noticing the look of disgust Mindy shot him. "I'm just looking over some crime statistics."

"Is there anything new?"

"Just more on that blood bank stuff." Dave said as Mindy did a facepalm.

"Dude…We have enough to worry about here. Why the hell are you looking into possible blood bank burglaries out west?"

"It's been happening since 1983."

"So fucking what?" Mindy said with a roll of her eyes. Actually, Dave's near-obsessive desire to solve any mystery he found was something she found terribly attractive in him. Mindy admitted to herself that it was because of Dave that they now investigated crimes rather than simply used muggers and dealers for punching bags, as they did in their first year working together. However, they had more than enough crime in New York City to keep them busy without looking into Dave's ongoing puzzlement over apparent late night thefts from blood banks all over the mountain west since the early 1980's. She showed Dave the manila envelope she'd brought over. "Guess what I have?" She said in a sing-song voice?

"Mike the Mooch's information?"

"Damn straight" Mindy said with a smirk.

"Let's see it." Dave said anxiously as he closed the screen and turned on a desk light as Mindy tore open the envelope and removed the sheets inside.

"Ok, we have Michael Asseyeto, aka Mike the Mooch. Thirty years old. He has a rap sheet going back to when he was a teenager and almost all of it has to do with drugs. Let's see…He's done three years in Attica…four years in Sing-Sing….He's been to Riker's so many times he practically has his own cell reserved." Dave said as he read the file.

"Look at this." Mindy said as she read it over herself. "He was picked up in the spring for pushing meth but the case got dropped on a technicality."

"Lucky for him." Dave said sarcastically

"I don't think so. Now we get a crack at him." Mindy said with a sneer.

"Ok…Do we have anything on him?" Dave said as he searched through their computerized crime files. "Nope"

"Well, we're going to change that now, aren't we?"

"The first step is finding out where this guy's living."

"I thought as much." Mindy said as she removed her phone –a work phone- from her pocket and dialed a number. It picked up after one and a half rings.

"I'm here." Angela's voice sounded over the speaker.

"We have a name for Mike the Mooch. What we need now is an address."

"Let me have it."

"His first name is Michael. His last name is spelled A-S-S-E-Y-E-T-O. He's got a rap sheet going back almost fifteen years."

"All of them are in New York State?"

"Yeah, he's done stretches in Attica and Sing-Sing."

"Gotcha" Angela replied from her home work desk as she opened the backdoor program that allowed her access to the New York State Division of Parole. She soon enough found the file for their quarry. She copied the pertinent details over to an encrypted e-mail and sent it to the lair's computer.

"I just sent you his current address according to the parole board."

"Thanks"

"Will you need me or Crosshairs in tracking him down?"

"No. We'll take care of that part. But afterwards, we'll let you know."

"Ok. Good luck."

"Thanks" Mindy said she ended the call. "Where's this big ball of douche living?"

"Let's see…" Dave said as he read off an address in Brooklyn. He did a Google Earth search and found the area. "Here it is…18th Avenue and 86th Street in Bensonhurst."

"Bensonhurst?"

"Bensonhurst" Dave repeated. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Damn straight. Let's go see when Mike the Mooch gets off his corner and waddles back home."

"I like the way you think." Dave said as he shot Mindy a smile. He stood up from his chair and walked over to a supply cabinet.

"Of course you do." Mindy replied with a smirk. "What should we take tonight?"

"Night-vision goggles," Dave said as he removed two pairs from the shelf. "binoculars, bugs and a parabolic microphone." He said as he took down the needed gear.

"Sweet" Mindy replied with a smirk. "Let's go get us a fat bad guy."

An hour later, Dave and Mindy, now in costume, were perched on a rooftop of a hardware store directly across from Mike the Mooch's dingy apartment. A parabolic microphone scanner was aimed at the main window.

"I sure as hell wish we could've gone in there to plant some bugs." Dave muttered crossly in the cold early evening air.

"I know." Mindy replied. Their plan to sneak into Asseyeto's apartment had been curtailed by the fact that there were far too many people moving about in the hallways at that early hour, making it too risky to attempt breaking in without attracting attention. "If we don't get anything from this, we can do that later tonight when everyone else in the building is in bed."

"That sounds good. I've got all my lock picks either on me on in the car." Dave replied. He kept his lock picks hidden in the side of his boots, or in the forearm section of his gloves. In addition, he had a snap gun in the Mistmobile and a few skeleton keys in his utility belt.

"Yeah, we'll…" Mindy's voice trailed off as she looked down onto 86th Street. "There he is."

Dave looked down. "Yeah. Shit! He looks like he's sweating just from walking up the street from where he parked his car."

"God, I hope we get something here. I don't want to go into that guy's apartment if we don't have to." Mindy groaned.

Dave suppressed a smirk at Mindy's desire to not enter Mike the Mooch's dwelling space. He was rather hoping that same thing himself.

Down on the street, Mike the Mooch had entered his building and –after a really long time climbing the stairs- entered into his apartment and turned the lights on. Dave and Mindy raised their binoculars and did a fast surveillance. The apartment was every bit as dingy as they'd expected it to be. There appeared to be a huge amount of what appeared to be skin magazines lying around the place. The titles were too far away for Dave and Mindy to pick up easily, but there appeared to be a wide assortment. On the walls were a similar collection of pictures of girls who appeared to all be in their teens. Mindy grimaced in revulsion. She could only imagine what he was thinking when he encountered her and Angela the other day.

As well, all around the apartment were empty pizza boxes. It appeared that Mike "the Mooch" Asseyeto believed that he could get all his basic food groups from pizza.

An idea went through Dave's head as he noticed a detail.

"Mindy"

"Yeah?"

"See all those pizza boxes?"

"How the hell could I possibly miss them?"

"Do they all look to be from the same place to you?"

Mindy focused her binoculars and nodded her head. "Now that you mention it, they do."

"I thought so. They're all from Vic and Vinny's Pizzeria." Dave pulled out his smartphone and began to do a search.

"What're you looking for?"

"The place he gets his pizza from…There it is: their website. And it looks like they're only about three blocks away."

"They must love him. He probably keeps them in the black."

"It sure looks like it. Now…How can we use that?"

"I wonder how careful he is…Hey, wait a second."

"What?"

"His phone is ringing. Get the parabolic microphone up." Mindy said urgently as Dave complied.

In his apartment, Mike Asseyeto picked up his cellphone and wheezed a greeting.

"Yeah…Oh hi, Frankie…Yeah, we've been moving some stuff…Jacob got busted? I didn't know that…Nah, the guy don't know shit about shit…How much in the new batch? I'll have to recruit some new guys to move…No, I'm ain't sayin' it's a problem, I'm just sayin'…Now? Ok, I'll be there in an hour." Mike the Mooch wheezed as he ended his call. He took a deep –rattling- breath and dialed his phone. After a few seconds the call picked up. "Yo…I wanna place my usual order."

"He's ordering a pizza." Dave commented.

"What's their delivery time?"

"The website says forty-five minutes or it's free." Dave said as a smile crossed his face as his mental wheels turned.

"If he's counting on his food coming in forty-five minutes and being there in an hour, he'll probably bring his dinner along with him."

"What do you have in mind?" Mindy asked as she recognized the look Dave got from his latest brainstorm.

"First…We have to change clothes." Dave said. He was grateful that Mindy had come up with the idea of keeping spare sets of civilian clothes in the Mistmobile for emergencies. "Then, we drop in for a take-out order from Vic and Vinny's."

"Take out?"

"Of coleslaw"

"Huh?"

"We have those SkyTRX trackers in the car. I somehow doubt that Mike the Mooch is a fan of coleslaw. I don't think he'd open the bucket or look too carefully in it."

A huge smile broke over Mindy's face. "Aw dude…That's fucking brilliant. But how do we get the coleslaw we buy into his order?"

"That's what I'm on now." Dave said as he dialed a number and waited for it to be picked up. "Colonel Stars…It's Kick-Ass. Hit-Girl and I need some assistance in Bensonhurst right about now…"

Forty-two minutes later, a car bearing the "Vic and Vinny's" logo on the side pulled up in front of Mike the Mooch's address. The driver, an eighteen year old Brooklyn College student got out, taking with him a pizza box and a bag with wings in. He cursed audibly. He made about a delivery here every night he worked…and the fat meatball never once gave him a tip. As he walked over to the outer door, a figure moved from the shadows. It was a large, powerfully built man wearing a balaclava mask. The driver gasped as he saw the .357 magnum revolver in the man's large hand.

"Ok pal…Don't make this hard on yourself." He said in a gravelly voice. "Put the food on the ground slowly and then give me your money."

The driver, who was now thinking there HAD to be easier ways to earn money for school, shakily put down the food and with fumbling hands reached for the money pouch he carried. As the food touched the ground, the robber seemed to nod approvingly as the kid stood up again.

"Alright the money kid…And maybe I'll only shoot you once…." The gravelly voice started to say.

"Hey fucktard…Why don't you eat in tonight?" A voice from behind the robber spoke. He turned around, and saw –as if in answer to the terrified driver's prayers- Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl standing there looking very threatening.

The would-be hold-up man turned back and started to run…Only to crash into the driver and knock him to the ground. The robber stumbled a little bit and took off like a bolt down the street and down an alley. Hit-Girl bolted after him and followed him down the alley. Kick-Ass, meanwhile, stopped and pressed his hand on the driver's shoulder.

"Stay down!" The green-clad hero said in a low voice. "There might be shooting." The driver gave another cry and covered his head with his hands. He never saw or heard Kick-Ass slip the container of coleslaw –with the miniature tracking device sealed in a plastic baggy- into his delivery bag. "Ok. You can get up. Are you alright, citizen?"

"Yeah…I'm fine. You two saved my ass."

"That's what we do." Kick-Ass said solemnly. "If you're alright, I'm going after Hit-Girl and that miscreant."

"Yeah…It's fine. You can go." The driver said with a nod of his head. Kick-Ass took off at a run after Hit-Girl, down the alley. The shaking deliveryman, buzzed into the building. At Mike Asseyeto's door, the obese drug dealer grumpily paid the bill –again noting that the kid delivering was fifteen seconds away from the deadline. Mike the Mooch grabbed his food, again without tipping, and waddled down the stairs and out the door to his car.

A half-block away, Dave had come to a stop in the alley to find Mindy chatting quietly with the balaclava wearing 'miscreant'.

"How'd it go?" The man asked.

"Perfectly" Dave replied. "Thanks John."

The man looked around the alley to make sure nobody was watching, and then pulled off his balaclava to reveal the grey-haired visage of John Genovese, aka Colonel Stars, reformed Mafioso turned costumed crimefighter and first chairman of Justice Forever.

"I'm happy to help."

"It's a good thing you're close by." Mindy said, referring to the fact that Genovese lived in the nearby neighbourhood of Dyker Heights.

"And I can still scare people without trying?"

"That too."

"Well, I'll leave you to it. I've got to get home. My grandkids will wonder why it's taking me so long to pick up ice cream for them." Genovese laughed as he removed his dark jacket, which proved to be reversible. He turned it inside out, revealing a bright blue exterior –a precaution in case anyone had seen him before. "See you two at the Christmas party." He said amiably, walking off.

Dave and Mindy waved a farewell to their friend and colleague and trotted out to where they'd parked the Mistmobile. Mindy dialed her workphone as they got in and Dave started the vehicle.

"Yeah?" Came Angela's reply when she picked up.

"The tracker's in place. Are you getting a signal?"

"I sure am. Ok, he looks to be heading along 86th Street."

"Right. We're following far enough behind so he won't see us."

"Cool. He just turned onto Stillwell Avenue."

"Stillwell Avenue?"

"Yeah. It looks like he's heading for Coney Island." Angela replied from their headquarters.

"Coney Island?" Dave mused.

"Fuck, that's perfect." Mindy said. "It's winter. Traffic's way down now. It's the perfect time for this big expansion."

"I think that traffic is about to get a lot busier for them." Dave said with a smirk.

"Damn straight." Mindy said as they bumped fists as they drove towards Coney Island and the target of that night's war on crime


	6. Chapter 6

_Greetings dear readers. An infinite amount of apologies for the delay in updates for the this fic. However, I've had an insane amount of stress and issues to deal with in the last couple of months. Doing my _Dark Shadows _fics have been relatively easy, as they've all been one shots and fairly short ones. My _Kick-Ass_ fics are longer and more plot intensive, thus necessitating more time and mental energy...Two things I've been lacking of late. (Especially the second one.)_

_FYI, the Keysi fighting method of the one demonstrated by Christian Bale in the Nolan Batman trilogy. So, if you want to visualize the way Dave fights, just imagine Christian Bale's moves in Nolan's Batman films. By the way, saw _The Dark Knight Rises_ and I thought it was awesome. It's inspired some ideas for this fic. :-D_

_I do hope everyone likes this and it's worth the wait._

_I'll try to be more prompt in updates. Perhaps I'll try shorter chapters I can do more them often. This one took about six solid hours to do and it was draining._

_I do hope people review. As you all know, it makes me write more and faster. :-D_

_And awayyyyy we go._

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><p>Dave smoothly drove the Mistmobile through the darkened streets of Coney Island. Being winter, the streets of the beachfront area were relatively quiet and deserted. It occurred to him that it was the perfect sort of privacy that a criminal enterprise would seek out. He was somewhat familiar with the area. He and Mindy came here during the summer to train with open ocean swims. However, in the summer, they always took the subway coming and going.<p>

"Ok, it looks like the signal is slowing." Angela said over the speaker phone from their headquarters. "He's stopped. Do you think he found the tracker?"

"I don't think so." Mindy replied with a sardonic grin. "We put it in the coleslaw and he didn't strike me as someone who eats a lot of vegetables."

"Then, I think you've got him. He's about a block ahead of you."

"Ok. We're stopping and we'll check it out on foot. Can you stand by?" Dave said as he pulled the car into an alley and turned off the engine.

"That's what I'm here for. Oh, and Crosshairs is here and is set to help." Angela informed them. She looked across the garage and saw Todd, in his costume, checking his gear.

"Copy that. Give us five minutes." Dave's voice sounded in her headphones. The line went silent and Angela exhaled and looked over her workstation. She recalled a time, before befriending Mindy, when her life's goals were simple. She wanted to be popular and to be a cheerleader. Now though, she lived and operated in a deadly serious world of costumed heroes, life and death decisions and vicious killers…And she loved every minute of it.

"Do they need help?" Todd asked her.

"We'll know soon enough." Angela said as she took a sip from her water bottle and looked at the status board for all the other Justice Forever members who availed themselves of her services. Of the ones on duty that night, none of them seemed to be in the middle of anything other than routine patrols. That was good, as it freed up her attention to help Dave and Mindy.

In Coney Island, Dave and Mindy crept silently through the shadows as they covered the remaining distance on foot. As they approached a corner the two crimefighters flattened themselves against a wall and peered around a corner. Ahead of them was an ice cream factory. The general grime on the building indicated it was years since it was used for its intended purposes…But there were lights burning inside of it, and a number of cars parked outside.

"It looks pretty busy for an ice cream place in December." Dave noted rhetorically.

"Well, I'm betting they're doing something to do with ice." Was Mindy's sarcastic reply as she looked the place over with her expert eyes.

"How many cars do you think there are?"

"It looks to be at least a half-dozen that I can see. There might be more around the far side of the building."

"Yeah, who knows how many are in there." Dave said as he pulled his own phone from his belt and began take pictures of the cars parked in front of the building. When he was done, he motioned to Mindy and they retraced their steps to the Mistmobile.

"Scarlet-Wiki" Dave called into his phone, mindful of their rule to never use their real names over the phone when in costume and on the job.

"I'm here."

"I'm sending you some pictures of cars. We need you to run down as many license plates as you can. Also, can you run a check on this address for us…?" Dave said as he began to text Angela the pictures he'd taken, as well as the address of the building.

Ten minutes later, Angela came back on the line.

"I've got a hit on the first plate. Leon Devin. He's a known dealer who works out of East Flatbush. The second plate is registered to Angelo Lombardo. He's –big shocker- ANOTHER drug dealer; only he works out of Bay Ridge. I haven't gotten the others back yet, but I'm detecting a pattern."

Mindy held her gloved hand to her face and dropped her jaw open, in the style of Taylor Swift winning an unexpected award, to express her non-shock at the identities of the car owners. Dave found himself fighting laughter at Mindy's impudent attitude.

"What about the building itself?" Mindy asked her friend. "It looked really busy for a place that deals in ice cream, in December."

"I was just getting to that. The building is supposedly owned by the Coney Island Ice Cream Company."

"I've never heard of that brand." Mindy said with a raised eyebrow.

"I ran a search on them and didn't get anything back."

"How long have they been in operation?"

"Not too long apparently. Oh, I have a name for the person who signed all the papers: a Walter White."

"Walter White?" Mindy repeated as the name clicked for her.

"_Breaking Bad_" Dave agreed.

"I don't know if that's totally fucking arrogant or cool." Mindy said as she pondered the idea of the name given being the same as a television character that cooked up methamphetamine. Whoever was running this apparently was either a big pop cultural fan, or had a weird sense of humour...or both.

"It's ballsy as all hell." Dave said.

"They've either got the cops here on the payroll, or they figure nobody watches AMC much." Mindy nodded in agreement.

"Are you still there?" Angela asked over the speaker.

"Sorry"

"Ok, I was able to do some VERY quick checking and I found out that they've had some big deliveries made to them in the last six months. Want to guess what?"

"Cooking supplies?"

"Not quite; how about industrial piping?"

"As in, the type needed for a meth lab?"

"It sounds like it. Oh, and guess what else. There've been a whole bunch of complaints from neighbours during the summer –when the area was busier- about smells in the area."

"Shit. They have to have someone on the police on their payroll then, if people were complaining about smells and it was being ignored."

"It looks that way."

"Well, I think they won't be able to ignore it after tonight." Dave spoke up from the driver's seat.

"You must have been using your Professor Xavier like psychic powers, because I was thinking the same thing." Mindy replied with a smirk.

"How many do you think are in there?" Dave asked.

"There were at least eight cars parked around there…"

"And there could be more of them on the other side of the building."

"Think we should get back-up?"

"It can't hurt."

"How long would it take you and Crosshairs to get to our location?" Mindy asked.

"We could be there in about a half-hour."

"Ok. Can you bring the thermal imaging equipment?"

"Will do" Angela replied. She turned to Todd and called out "Todd…Get the thermal imaging gear." Todd nodded in acknowledgement and grabbed the necessary gear from the shelves. "We'll be there in about a half-hour." Angela said to Mindy.

"We'll be waiting. We're about a block or two away." Mindy said as she disconnected the transmission.

"Where are we going?" Todd asked as Angela shut down her console.

"Coney Island" Angela replied as she grabbed a bag containing her costume and headed to the office to change. "It sounds like they found the meth lab."

"It must be a big one if they want back-up. You go change, I'll get the car." Todd said as he hefted the gear.

"I'll be ready in five minutes. Here's the address." Angela said as she handed Todd a slip of paper with a smile.

Todd took the address and walked out of the garage to where his car was parked, after making sure nobody was outside watching first. He stored the gear, got in and warmed up the engine. He was looking forward to the events ahead. He would be able to help on a major case in the field…and got to do something with Angela as a bonus. Since joining Dave and Mindy's crusade, he found his life had improved in all ways. He felt useful now and had a definite purpose. His talent for tinkering was being put to good use. And, of course, he got to hang out with Angela. She was just so…cool. Sure, she was a few years younger, but he didn't care. She always made him feel like he was the coolest guy in the room –and when you hung out with members of Justice Forever, it meant you were surrounded by cool people. He decided he'd waited long enough…He was going to ask her to be his date to the Justice Forever Christmas Party. The thought made him a little nervous. Todd took a deep breath and he strummed the steering wheel nervously as he waited for Angela to join him. A few minutes later, Angela emerged and got into the passenger seat. Todd's breath caught, as it usually did, when he saw her in her costume. It's golden yellow colour perfectly accentuated her red hair, and was complimented by her red mask, boots and gloves. He hoped he didn't get nervous and flub his invite.

Thirty-five minutes later, the four young crimefighters were organizing in a cold, windswept alley on Coney Island.

"We scouted out the far side of the building." Dave informed their support team. "It looks like about four or five more cars there too. That makes a dozen, or so."

"How many people are there inside?" Todd asked.

"We don't know; at least a dozen, but probably more." Mindy replied as she looked at the gear she and Dave had assembled from the Mistmobile's trunk.

"The plus side is that there's only one real way in or out. That's the main door. Mindy and I put a chain around the handles of the back door when we did our reconnaissance before. All the action will be from the front."

"What do we do?" Angela asked.

"Funny you should ask…" Mindy said with a smirk as she anticipated the coming battle.

A short while later, Todd and Angela were huddled on the tarpaper roof of the closed store that faced the meth lab. Angela looked through the view finder of the Sonel KT-384 IR camera and adjusted the controls.

"OK" she spoke into her microphone that linked her to the earpieces Dave and Mindy were wearing. "I'm getting an image from inside. Most of the production stuff is down on the first floor. There are two guys down there. It looks like they're guarding the door. There are at least twelve individuals on the second floor, all gathered around. It must be some sort of conference."

"Is there anyone on the third floor?" Dave asked.

"Negative. The third floor is clear."

"Good" Came Dave's curt reply.

Todd peered through his scope at the alley running alongside the building. He picked up Dave and Mindy, each carrying coils of rope. He sat back and waited.

In the alley, Dave and Mindy set down there gear and did a final check.

"Are you ready?" Dave asked his partner.

"Aw dude…I was fucking born ready." Mindy replied with her trademark smirk.

Dave smiled back at her and brought up the Plumett AL-54 grappling hook launcher to his shoulder. He took careful aim and fired. The grappling hook shot up from the muzzle, carrying a length of rope behind it. The hook landed neatly on the roof. Dave pulled the rope back and waited until the grappling hook took a hold and dug itself into the concrete ledge. He jumped up and grabbed it, putting all his weigh on it as a test. Mindy took a hold of him, to add her weight to it, but the line held secure.

"The line's up." Dave said into his microphone. "Is there anything going on inside?"

"Nothing. They're all still talking so far as I can see."

Dave looked at Mindy with a smile. So far, this was going perfectly.

"Crampons" He said quietly. He and Mindy then bent over and attached crampons to their boots with strap bindings. He then found the end of the rope and slid several ascender handles onto the rope.

"You set?" Mindy asked.

"After you." Dave replied, as it was their custom for Mindy to go first as she was lighter. Mindy slung her own rope over her shoulder, grabbed as ascender handle in each hand, and dug a crampon into the wall. Moving her arms mechanically as she dug her boots into the wall with the crampons, she began to methodically scale up the side of the building.

Dave hid the Plumett AL-54 behind a garbage can, where it would be retrieved by one of them later. He grabbed his own ascender handles and started his own climb up the rope.

Within a few minutes, the crimefighting duo was on the roof of the meth lab and removed the crampons, attaching them to their belts again. Mindy put her night vision goggle to her eyes and looked over across the street where Todd and Angela were watching through, respectively, a night vision scope and a Sonel KT-384 infrared camera.

"Are we still good?" She spoke into her microphone to Angela.

"You're good. Nobody's moved yet." Her red-haired friend responded.

"Awesome. We're set for Step 2." She nodded to Dave. Dave went over to a skylight and knelt down beside it. He removed a glass cutter from his utility belt and began to trace out a large circle in the skylight after placing a suction cup in the middle of the circle. In the meantime, Mindy went across the roof to the chimney and fastened the rope coil around its base.

Dave finished with his glass cutter and removed a large section of the skylight, setting it to one side. He looked at Mindy intently.

"One last time…"

"You go down and get them to come up the stairs…"

"Then you break in through the window…"

"Anyone left gets hurded downstairs and out the front door…"

"Where Todd and Angela will have them covered." Dave said with a smile. He keyed his microphone to their friends across the street. "You're good to go?"

"We're all set." Came Angela's reply after Todd had nodded his own readiness.

"Ok. Wait for the signals." Dave said as he looked at Mindy and smiled at her.

"Good luck." She said to him.

"I don't believe in luck." Dave said confidently. He believed in proper planning and preparation. With that, he felt, you didn't really need luck…most of the time.

"Yeah, yeah…But listen dude, if you get yourself hurt, I will kick your ass!" Mindy said with quiet seriousness. Dave just smiled.

"I'll see you down on the second floor."

"You'd better fucking believe it." Mindy said as they bumped fists.

Dave smiled at her one last time and dropped through the skylight onto the third floor. Sometimes, he and Mindy had made the classic Batman type entrance of crashing through the skylight. However, this particular job was one where stealth was the best way to start.

Once inside, Dave put on his night vision goggles and looked around. The third floor didn't seem to be used much. Before announcing his presence to the thugs below, he did a quick reconnaissance of the third floor. There were only about three light fixtures showing. Two of them didn't have bulbs in. That was ideal. He stood beneath the one that did have a bulb in and got ready.

"Ok" He whispered into his microphone. "And here…we…go." He said as he reached into his utility belt and pulled out a flashbang grenade and a throwing knife. He took a deep breath to prepare himself and threw the knife upward at the light fixture. The bulb shattered, ensuring no lights could be turned on up here. Next, he pulled the pin of the flashbang and lobbed it towards the stairwell, turning his back and crouching down.

There was a loud bang, followed by screams of shock as the drug dealers' meeting erupted in panic. Then there was a sound of footsteps coming up the stairs as the most organized, or determined, decided to see what was happening.

Dave adjusted his night goggles and waited in the darkness as five armed drug dealers charged up past him in the dark. As the last one passed in the dark, Dave stepped out. With one hand, he grabbed the thug's Sig-Sauer P226. With his other, he executed a perfect ridge hand strike into the scum's windpipe. Gagging and gasping the man stumbled forward as Dave finished him with a knee into his solar plexus.

Realizing someone was behind them, two of the dealers rushed forward, only for Dave to fall upon them with his mastery of the Keysi and Jeet Kune-Do fighting systems. He elbowed one dealer in the face, instantly smashing his nose. The dealer screamed in pain as his eyes were blinded by tears. Dave grabbed the gun arm of the other dealer, driving his elbow into the gunman's ribs, breaking them as he pulled the arm against him, breaking the elbow. The drug dealer screamed and clutched his ruined arm as Dave executed a savage kick at the knee of the man whose nose he'd broken. There was a dull snap as the man's knee was shattered and he fell to the ground. The last two gunmen had just had their odds reduced before they even knew what was happening. All one of them could see was –through a bit of light from the holed skylight- a flash of green. That was enough.

"IT'S KICK-ASS!" He screamed out in warning.

On the roof, Mindy could hear the panic start from inside. She waved across the street.

Todd raised his M-32 six-shot 40mm riot gun to his shoulder, aimed and depressed the trigger.

The first two rounds of rubber impact rounds shattered the window. The noise and violence of the shattered window caused more chaos on the second floor. The third round shattered the light inside. His fourth was a smoke grenade. That was Mindy's cue.

Mindy jumped off the roof's ledge, making a quick descent to the second floor window and swung in. Unlike Dave, who relied on brutality in his tactics and physical strength, Mindy's greatest advantages in a fight were her speed, agility and reflexes. That, combined with her small size made her practically impossible to hit unless one was a martial artist as skilled as she was…And that was a rarity.

Mindy tore into the panicking drug dealers. In the dark and smoke, none of them could see her. However, her night vision goggles allowed her to see all of them…while they were still standing, that is. Not, that any of them were on their feet for long though.

The first one, Mindy swept the legs out from under and rabbit punched his wind pipe as he fell. The second one, she drove her boot into his groin and broke his nose with one swift punch (and three to be sure afterwards). The third one, she somersaulted over and grabbed his neck as she went, pulling him to the ground and smashing his head into the floor. Number four actually tried to punch her. Mindy effortlessly grabbed his wrist and broke it with a savage twist; following up with a boot to the solar plexus. The fifth one she nailed with a jump front kick right to his face that snapped his head back. As he staggered, a swift kick to his shin broke his leg and put him on the floor.

Upstairs, meanwhile, Dave had launched himself at the remaining two gunmen. One, he broke the nose of with a vicious head butt, followed by an elbow shot to the temple and a reverse elbow shot to his windpipe that sent him to the floor. The final one was so shocked, he didn't even resist when Dave grabbed his gun arm, hyper-extended it and drove his elbow down, breaking the bone and finished him with a punch to the solar plexus. With his five opponents all finished, Dave went down the stairs to assist Mindy.

On the second floor, the remaining two thugs were trying to escape. One was Mike the Mooch. Mindy leapt at him and drove her steel toed boot, right into his testicles. The obese drug dealer let out a high-pitched scream of pain, and fell to his knees, gasping for air as he clutched himself. With a sigh of disgust, Mindy finished him with a spinning back kick to his face. Dave, in the meantime faced off against the last man standing. This one was so panicked and disoriented all it took was about three shots to the man's face with his Kevlar lined sap gloves, using a boxing technique, to put the thug out.

Mindy listened down the stairwell to the first floor. Apparently the door guards had no desire to try their luck with Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl and were intent on escaping. Mindy keyed her microphone again.

"They're making a break for it! Be ready at the front entrance!"

From the rooftop vantage point, Todd aimed his MZP-1 tear gas launcher at the front door and waited. As soon as it cracked open, he fired his weapon. A tear gas canister landed right in front of the fleeing gunmen and erupted. The two gunmen instantly began to cough and wheeze as they choked on the tear gas. Blindly, they turned back into the building…to run smack into Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl.

Dave took out one with an elbow to the temple. Mindy incapacitated her foe with a side-kick to his windpipe. The duo looked at each other and exchanged a high-five.

Dave keyed his microphone with a smile. "The building is clear. Let's grab the AL-54 and regroup at the cars." Holding their breath and closing their eyes, he and Mindy dashed out through the dissipating tear gas. They retrieved their grapple gun and slunk off through the shadows to the alley where the Mistmobile was. Once there, Mindy pulled out her phone and dialed 9-1-1.

* * *

><p>"What do we have here?" Lieutenant Marcus Williams asked as he approached the crime scene. It appeared to be chaos. There were at least eight ambulances either loading patients in or getting ready to leave for hospitals (with uniformed police officers accompanying each one). There were Emergency Services Unit personnel present. There was a Hazardous Materials Team going into the building. There appeared to be about half the fire trucks in Brooklyn lining the street.<p>

"Marcus!" A voice called to him from the side. He looked over and smiled. A burly, African-American wearing black and yellow bunker gear, a SCBA and a black fire helmet with a white faceplate and the red numbers "107" etched on it, approached him.

"Mike…What're you doing out here, little brother?" Marcus said cheerfully as he shook hands with his younger (by one year) brother, Lieutenant Mike Williams of Ladder 107 for the FDNY.

"Keeping Coney Island from blowing up; I'm serious. It's about the biggest meth lab I've seen in a long time."

"Seriously?" Marcus said, as he hoped Dave and Mindy were alright. He'd gotten a call from a -familarly- growly voiced informant, telling him about what had gone down. He knew Dave and Mindy could handle the thugs here, but he hoped they'd taken all necessary precautions afterwards since this was an active meth lab.

"Hey bro, just because you abandoned the family tradition doesn't mean I'd mess with you on this." Mike Williams said in reference to the fact Marcus was (semi-seriously) regarded as the black sheep of the Williams family. Their father, uncles and grandfather had all served on the FDNY. Marcus had forsaken that to join the NYPD, for which he was still –after twenty years of service- mocked at family gatherings even if his family was still proud of his professional accomplishments. "But, I think it's all under control now. We're just waiting to get cleared to return to quarters."

"That's good."

"Yeah, if that place had gone up…It would've taken out half the block. Say, how's Mindy doing? You two need to come over for dinner."

"Mindy's…keeping busy." Marcus said truthfully as he looked at the scene. Just then, the radio on Ladder 107 came to life, instructing them to return to quarters. Mike smiled and removed his SCBA.

"Well, back to the station for some dinner and bed. Give me a call and we'll arrange dinner." Mike said as he climbed into the ladder truck's cab beside the driver.

"Sure" Marcus waved at his brother while removing his cell phone from his belt, and hit his speed-dial.

"Hey Marcus" Mindy answered.

"Hi Mindy…I'm out at a scene on Coney Island. It's a big meth lab. so I don't know what time I'll be getting home. I just wanted to remind you to take a shower." Marcus said with an emphasis although he knew he couldn't say anything more on a potentially unsecure line. He figured Mindy would know what he meant.

"Don't worry. That's been done."

"I'm glad to hear it." Marcus said. "I'll call you later kiddo. Night." Marcus said to his adopted daughter and he ended the call.

He walked up the scene where he found Daniel Coy, another old friend of his. "What's up Dan?"

"What's up, is that we have a meth lab with about two million dollars worth of equipment and enough product on site worth about three million dollars in street value."

"Holy shit!"

"Holy shit is right, pal."

"How the fuck did the narcotic guys not get wind of this before?"

"I don't know. I think someone had to be paying someone off. I guess money has its limits though."

"What do you mean?" Marcus said, although he knew pretty well what had happened here.

"All the punks here, who're now on their way to Riker's, if not detouring to the hospital first…They say it was Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl who busted this place up."

"They got the job done, at least."

"Yeah…And we look like a bunch of incompetents again. What hurts the most is that with something like this…we are."

"The bad guys are going down."

"I know. I just wish that the punks were as scared as us as they of all these kooks in Halloween costumes."

"I hear you." Marcus said as he recalled what he once said to Damon about his quest for vigilante justice

"Yeah…Shit, I wonder who was bankrolling this place. Whoever it was, is going to be really, fucking pissed!"

* * *

><p>In a Manhattan penthouse, a swarthy looking man wearing an Italian suit, a black t-shirt and gold chains that complimented his (spray-on) tanned skin knocked on a wooden door.<p>

"Come in" Came the nasally reply from inside.

The room inside was not well lit. The main illumination, aside from a desk lamp, came from the lights from surrounding buildings. The messenger unconciously ran his hand through his heavily gelled, blowback-styled, hair.

"What is it Vinnie?"

"We got trouble Boss."

"What type of trouble?"

"Our lab in Coney Island…It got taken out tonight."

"How the fuck can that have happened? We have the narcs out there on payroll. Gigante vouched for all of them. That's millions of dollars in equipment and more millions in product fucking down the fucking drain. Eight months of planning get everything set the fuck up! And it's shot to shit because the cops can't follow the orders we give them?!"

"It wasn't the cops."

"It wasn't the cops?"

"No. It was…"

"You'd better not say it was Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl!" Came the nasally scream from behind the desk.

"Sorry boss, but it was them. Our guys on the scene said that the boys that got taken away were all beaten up and moaning about them."

An exaggerated sigh came from behind the desk. "Sit down, Vinnie." The figure said, indicating an office chair.

"Boss…"

"Sit. Down!"

"Ok Boss…" Vinnie said nervously as he sat down in the chair.

"Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl…You know, Vinnie, I told you NOT to tell me that." The figure said as he calmly pushed a button on his desk.

Vinnie Marcello screamed as electrical current passed from a conductor behind his head to a metal plate at his feet through his body. His body began to spasm and smolder.

"Such SHOCKING news!" Chris D'Amico, alias The Motherfucker, nee Red Mist, screamed from behind his father's old desk and began to laugh maniacally.

* * *

><p>In an all night diner in Queens, Dave, Mindy, Todd and Angela sat in a booth enjoying a late night meal. It was one of two diners they frequented. One of them was a place that catered to costumed crimefighters. It was quite common to see costumed individuals there –especially at odd hours of the night. This place, however, was where they only went to in civilian clothes. Dave and Mindy had been forced to rinse themselves off with large jugs of water after emerging from the meth lab, as a precaution to rinse of any product that might have gotten on them. Their costumes had been relegated to garbage bags and left outside their headquarters. They felt that after immersion in water, they figured it would be safe to use them again. As a result, they'd had to go to eat in their civilian clothes.<p>

The diner was deserted. The waitress, apparently a student, was in the kitchen catching up on her reading list. The four crimefighters had the place to themselves. However, they still had to be careful about what they said.

"So, is everyone looking forward to the Christmas party next week?" Dave as he took a bite of his food, as he made reference to the annual Justice Forever Christmas Party.

"You bet." Todd said as he grinned at Angela. On the way back from Coney Island, he'd asked if she wanted to go to the party with him and she'd said yes. (It'd actually taken all of Angela's will power not shatter the windows with a scream of happiness at Todd asking her.)

"I'm looking forward to what's on the menu. I've got to admit…Daniel Malone makes some really good food." Mindy said in reference to the former D'Amico goon turned chef as she took a drink from her soda glass.

"Oh, Mindy…I forgot to tell you. Jessi will definitely be back in town next week. She'll be visiting for a few days before Christmas." Angela said as she set down her club sandwich.

"She finalized when she's coming?"

"Yeah. She sent me an e-mail earlier today, letting me know."

"That's great." Mindy said as she thought of seeing their old friend again. "We'll have to let Dillon know so he can arrange his big date with her."

"We'll all have to get together. Marty'll be back as well then, won't he?" Dave asked Todd.

"Yeah, the last I heard he will be."

"It's going to be so great next week." Angela gushed as she looked over at Todd and smiled.

"I'll bet some people aren't pleased tonight though." Dave said as he took a bite of his burger.

"Damn straight." Mindy replied as he attacked her own food.

* * *

><p>"Mother" Said Chris D'Amico, as he stepped around the smoldering corpse of Vinnie Marcello, "I have given names to my pains. And the names are Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl."<p>

"Da, Comrade D'Amico. They are much trouble, da?" The hulking female bodyguard, known as Mother Russia replied.

"We need to get rid of them. Our plans go into action in a few months. We can't have them around much longer."

"I know of someone, Comrade D'Amico. He is someone...who people fear."

"Can you get him here?"

"Da. We will get him."

"Good...This city will not be recognizable after I'm done with it."

"Nyet, Comrade D'Amico, it will not be."

"Oh, and find out who gave up the information about the Coney Island lab." The Mothefucker said, his orange clothing catching the light. "Find out who it was, and flush him down the drain."

"Da, Comrade. We will arrange it."

"You'd better. And this guy…He can handle Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl?"

"He can finish them."

"Fuck it, no! I have to be the one to finish them. I want him to break them first. Can he do that?"

"Da, Comrade D'Amico. He will break Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl for you." Mother Russia said as her employer began to laugh again. He sidled up to the charred corpse in the makeshift electric chair.

"Come on Vinnie…This is funny!" Chris D'Amico gasped as he continued to laugh insanely.


	7. Chapter 7

_Greetings dear readers, and a Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who reside in the United States._

_Well, a huge apology for the delay in the update, but life has been busy. I've moved recently, necessitating a long commute to work. I'm in the process of looking for a new job, so I can move back to the city and get my own place. Basically...life has been busy. LOL_

_I batted this out today after I got home from a job interview. I was afraid it'd be on the short side, but it turned out just the right length._

_I wrote this because a few people were asking me how Angela and Todd learned of Dave and Mindy's secret identities and how they came to join them in The Mission. Well, this is Angela's story. Todd will have his story done in the next chapter._

_I'll definitely try to get updates done more often, but I can't guarantee any set time. Rest assured though, this story is being continued. Slowly but surely, I'm cranking away at it._

_As you know, I love and live for reviews. In fact, it was a review today that prompted me to finally get this chapter done. LOL So, every review helps get the next chapter moved forward. :-D_

_As for White Mage, in case you're wondering, I visualize Ashley Greene in the role...I even hung a lampshade on the fact. LOL_

_BTW, the Collins Seafood case isn't a coincidence. The _Kick-Ass _universe definitely exists in the same universe as _Dark Shadows_. (And my_ Dark Shadows world_ also co-exists with _Let Me In _and _True Blood_...but that's -literally- another story. :-D)_

_And awayyyyy we go. :-)_

* * *

><p>"Stretch it out, Angela." Mindy said intensely. Angela, in response stretched her legs higher in the air, wincing as the straps resisted her movement.<p>

"Three more reps." Mindy demanded. Angela grunted and complied as Mindy counted down. "Three…two…one…and done." Mindy said with satisfaction as her red-haired friend undid the straps and climbed off the Pilates machine. "Not bad." Mindy said with a smile.

"Thanks" Angela replied, taking a drink from her water bottle.

"Cool down time." Mindy ordered, and the two girls, clad only in tanktops and lycra leggings, sat down on the training mats to stretch and cool off from their workout. Mindy looked around. Angela's basement was a far cry from The Lair where she did much of her conditioning training. It also wasn't much like the small weight room Marcus had in their own basement.

This looked pretty much like what it was: a normal basement rec room with a Pilates machine. She and Angela trained here together about once a week. Mindy found it helped her maintain her flexibility and she liked how it stretched her muscles out.

"So, Jessi's going to stay with me when she gets here tomorrow morning." Angela informed Mindy.

"I thought she was going to stay at her aunt's." Mindy said.

"They have other relatives from Philadelphia staying over. So, she's crashing in my room while she's here."

"Will she wonder about you going to the party tomorrow night?" Mindy asked in reference to the Justice Forever Christmas party.

"She has her big date with Dillon tomorrow."

"Dillon works faster than I gave him credit for." Mindy said sardonically, eliciting a laugh from Angela.

"I told her that you and I would be busy tomorrow, so she and Dillon are having their first date then."

"Think there'll be a second?"

"I really hope so. Jessi needs a nice guy for once and Dillon's about the sweetest guy in school."

"I can't disagree." Mindy said as she stood up and reached for a towel. "So…Speaking of dates, with Jessi out with Dillon, does that leave the coast clear for you to bring Todd back here?" Mindy asked with a smirk.

"Mindy! We wouldn't…well…I wouldn't mind…" Angela admitted sheepishly. "Do you think that might happen?"

"Hell, Todd's totally into you. I'm sure it'll happen sooner or later." Mindy said sagely. Angela's eyes lit up at her best friend's words. She waited to see if Mindy would broach the subject of Dave. Angela had long ago vowed to never try and initiate a conversation about that with Mindy herself (she knew that was a bad idea with most girls, and with Mindy even more so) but would definitely put her two cents in if Mindy ever brought it up herself. So far, however, Mindy seemed about as likely to talk about her obvious feelings for Dave as she was likely to openly discuss their secret identities in a room full of strangers –which was to say, not at all.

Angela paused in front of a mirror and checked herself out briefly. Cheerleading practices combined with being one on of Mindy's training partners had left her in top condition. Not that she was obsessed with her body, but she wanted to look her best. Mindy took note.

"You look fine."

"Thanks. I'm not up to your standard yet."

"I started when I was five. Don't try and compare yourself to that. You're doing great."

"Well, I have you to thank for it."

Mindy smiled at her best –female- friend. "You've more than done your part." It was true. Angela worked incredibly hard when they trained and was simply the nerve center for Justice Forever. If Dave and Mindy were New York's answer to Batman and Robin, then Angela was their Oracle. And, on a more personal level, being friends with Angela had given Mindy an outlet for normal activities. Sure, she and Dave did normal stuff like go to the movies, hang out at Atomic Comics and the like. But a lot of times it was just Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl on a night off. And of course, there was the underlying fact that Dave simply owned Mindy's heart, thus adding a bittersweet tinge to their off time together. When she and Angela hung out they seldom discussed "work" and generally did things high school girls did. Together, Dave and Angela had helped complete Mindy's social development.

Angela smiled. "I still remember the night I found out."

Mindy snickered. "Shit, I thought you were going to freak out and not freak back in again."

"Hey, I was surprised." Angela retorted good naturedly.

"That's the understatement of the fucking decade." Mindy replied as she remembered. Overall, Angela had handled it very well when she found out almost two years before….

Two Years Ago

"Mindy, do you want to come over tonight? My mom's out with friends. I was going to have a _Glee_ marathon." Angela asked in her usual genki-girl manner.

"Oh, sorry, I'm, ah, busy tonight." Mindy replied cautiously.

"Again?" Angela replied disbelievingly. She couldn't help but feel a little dejected (and rejected). First Jessi, had moved away with her family. Then, Mindy kept blowing her off. What was up with that? Even after knowing her since the fall, Mindy could still be a real enigma. She was a super athlete but wasn't on any of the teams. She was smart enough to be three grades ahead of her age bracket but didn't act like the classic overachiever. So far as Angela could tell, the only person who really was close to her was her best friend Dave Lizewski. That was another thing Angela couldn't figure out. Dave was a senior who had a small circle of friends but didn't belong to any one "group" of the usual high school cliques…yet his life –so far as Angela could tell- seemed to center around this petite blonde girl who would normally still be in middle school. Angela sighed heavily as she resigned herself to another lonely night in her room with her _Glee_ DVD's.

"Sorry"

"It's ok." Angela said with false cheer. "Call you tomorrow?"

"Sure" Mindy replied as she watched the red-haired girl walk away. Mindy felt a twinge of guilt at having blown Angela off the way she had. Angela was really nice, if a little overenthusiastic about things. She'd invited Mindy to her birthday party –which as an extra touch of awesomeness fell on Halloween- and they'd slowly become friends since then. Mindy worried what her dad would have thought about that. She had a sad suspicion he wouldn't have approved. To Damon Macready, anything other than The Mission was a distraction. As a result, Mindy had grown up without friends or any sort of normal social life. She hadn't minded at all back then. Her dad and their Mission was her life and she accepted it as such. However, since meeting Dave and starting at his school, she'd begun to realize what she had been missing out on. To be sure, her role as Hit-Girl was the most important aspect of her life. It was what she was born to be. It was what brought Dave into her life…It was her calling. However, she now saw that her life didn't have to exclude everything not connected to The Mission that she and Dave had inherited from Big Daddy.

Mindy had begun to enjoy doing normal things as well. She liked spending an afternoon hanging out at Atomic Comics with Dave, Todd and Marty. She liked going to the movies without having to earn it by showing she could stand up to the latest training method her father had devised. And, as much many of her fellow students irritated her by being idiots, she actually had come to enjoy going to school as well. (Yes, this place was an intellectual wasteland and having to balance school and crimefighting was tough…but it gave her a challenge as well.) And she really liked having friends too. Dave was simply the best friend she knew she'd ever have. Todd and Marty were cool –in their own way- but they'd come part and parcel with Dave. Mindy found she did want to have some female friends too. It was a shame that the truth was that in a contest between hanging with a friend and going after drug dealers –which was what that night's work would be- the latter would always prevail. Mindy shook her head sadly and zipped up her purple winter jacket as she headed for the doors. She wanted to get her homework done and catch a nap before suiting up.

Later that night, she and Dave were secluded in the shadows of an alley that adjoined a garage. Sammy the Snitch's information was panning out as he said. He was definitely starting the New Year out on the right foot –and this was after his tip had helped them crack the identity of the Santa Claus Strangler the previous month.

Both Dave and Mindy were shivering with both cold and anticipation. Due to a plethora of road construction in the area, they'd been obligated to leave the Mistmobile behind for their work that night. There was simply no place to park that would allow it stay hidden. So, they'd come over on public transit, with their costumes hidden underneath some cheap sweat pants and jackets, and their masks in their pockets.

Dave grabbed Mindy's arm as there was some movement by the garage. Three men –who could best be described as swarthy looking weasels- emerged. Mindy smiled to herself. Since right after Boxing Day, they'd gotten word of a new type of hallucinogen that was being peddled on the streets. People taking it had led to a near riot at Times Square on New Year's Eve, where it was only due to extreme good luck (and prompt intervention by the NYPD, FDNY paramedics and a few costumed heroes in the area) that nobody had been critically injured. Dave and Mindy had been tracking them since the holidays. They followed their usual methodology of finding street dealers and breaking things on them until the aforementioned dealers gave up the next fish up the stream until they found the distribution centre. Mindy shivered some more at Dave's touch. Ever since she realized her feelings for him, being on patrols together was the agony and ecstasy exemplified. Mindy squeezed her eyes shut to clear such distractions (which, in their line of work were very highly dangerous) from her head. It was time to go to work.

Dave pulled a small flash grenade from his utility belt and tossed it towards the three dealers. He and Mindy then immediately ducked and crouched the other way, with their hands over their ears. Hence, they didn't see exactly where it landed…which set the stage for what followed. Unbeknownst to them, the grenade had fallen into a trash can that wound shielding the hoodlums from most of the blast.

Immediately following the detonation, Dave and Mindy leapt at the three dealers, fully expecting them to be completely stunned by the blast. However, they instantly saw that the threesome, while disoriented and surprised, were still on their feet…and ready to resist.

Dave grabbed the first weasel and nailed him with an elbow across the face. (Dave had started to learn the Keysi fighting method and was finding it was a most useful style that suited him perfectly.) At the same time, he brought his reinforced boot down on the drug dealer's knee. It was bent back with a sickening snap and the dealer fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Mindy observed her partner's work with an admiring eye. The pusher was looking at a good couple of months in the Riker's Island infirmary before he'd be walking again.

It was when they reached the second dealer that things went south. As Dave grabbed the thug and smashed the lowlife's face with a head-butt that the dealer's grabbed something out of his bag and squeezed it in a last desperate attempt to escape the relentless crimefighters. Both Dave and the dealer were enveloped in a cloud of gas. Dave instantly started choking, but maintained the presence of mind to grab the drug dealer and hurtle him face first into a nearby brick wall. The dealer fell to the alley floor, unconscious and bleeding. Dave, however, was standing exposed; clearly affected by whatever he'd breathed in. The third drug dealer was pulling something from beneath his duster. Mindy instantaneously recognized it. It was a sawed-off, double-barreled, 12-guage shotgun…and he was aiming it at Dave's head.

Mindy acted without thinking. In less time than it would take to draw a breath, she had vaulted over the second fallen dealer and barreled into Dave…at less than three feet from the armed dealer.

The twin barrels exploded in a flurry of sparks and a thunderous roar filled the alley. Smoke from the gunpowder –made denser by the hot gases venting into the cold night's air- filled the scene. The twin blasts struck Mindy beneath her sternum. She was knocked back against the brick wall. The lone dealer, thinking he'd finished off Hit-Girl, gave no thought to trying to save his two buddies. He jumped into the FIAT that was parked inside the alley and took off with a roar of the engine. The dealer hit 60 mph as he tore out onto the street. He was so full of bravado following his seeming triumph over the city's most feared crimefighters that he didn't realize the streets were icy from an earlier dusting of snow that had frozen over. His car hit the ice and went into an out of control skid. He was doing fifty when he hit the light post…and had neglected to put on his seat belt. (The responding firefighters noted –as they covered his body with a tarp- that he'd left a very large smear on the wall that he'd been catapulted into following his ejection through the front windshield.)

Back in the alley, Mindy vaguely heard a crash from somewhere nearby. She took a breath and was introduced to a world of pain in her torso. She looked down and saw that her costume had been blown open by the close range blast; however, the Kevlar underneath had done its job and saved her from being shot. What the Kevlar had NOT done was lessen the sheer impact of the shotgun blast. Mindy had taken bullets to her body armour before, but never something that powerful at such close range. She wasn't sure if anything was broken or not, but she did know that she had to have someone look at it soon…

"Hit-Girl!" Dave's voice suddenly registered with her. She looked over and saw Dave blindly trying to sit up. It was like he wasn't able to trust anything his senses were telling him.

"Kick-Ass…Are you alright?" Mindy responded, impressed that Dave had enough presence of mind to not use her real name when they weren't sure who could be listening in.

"No…Whatever that was…Everything looks like it's melting…in different colours…Keep talking though and I'll come over to you."

"Ok…come left a little…a little more…and I'm here." Mindy said as Dave dropped down next to her. She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, forcing herself to ignore the pain it caused her.

"Are you ok?" Dave asked

"Kevlar stopped the pellets, but it hurts like hell."

"Can you walk?"

"I don't think I could get far enough away from here, fast enough. How about you?"

"I can walk fine, but I can't trust where I'm going. I could see a cloud coming towards me and it could be a truck about to flatten me."

"We've to get some help." Mindy concluded.

"Yeah, but from who?" Dave responded. She realized that her partner had a point. Marcus had a few days off and had gone ice fishing upstate and invited Caz along. She knew some of the numbers for Justice Forever members, but knew none of them lived –or patrolled- close enough to get here in time to help them.

"Hey" Dave said from next to her. Mindy looked over and saw him propped up against a shipping crate (the alley was bright enough from street lights she could read that the crate was for Collins Seafood of Collinsport Maine, with a smaller notation denoting they'd been canning their own seafood since 1776.).

"What?"

"When we came here earlier, I thought I recognized the neighbourhood. Didn't I drop you off here sometime?"

"What about it?" Mindy asked as she was reaching the same conclusion. She had thought of someone who lived nearby that could help.

"Isn't there someone we can call around here?" Dave sighed as Mindy removed her phone from her belt

"Yeah…But you know what it would mean." Mindy said seriously. They both knew that if she called the number they were thinking, it would mean revealing their secret identities.

"I don't see what choice we have."

"Damn straight" Mindy sighed as she began to punch the numbers.

Angela Sullivan was splitting her attention between Lea Michele's singing and her laptop. On the one hand, the actress playing Rachel Berry had a fantastic voice. On the other hand, she was trying to see if she could hack into Red Lobster's computers to get their recipe for New England Clam Chowder. (She'd once cracked McDonald's computers…and wished she hadn't. She really didn't want to know how they made their food. Although, she did like to be able to do her own Egg McMuffin once in a while.) If she could get the recipe for the soup, maybe she'd try go after something cool.

She gave a melancholic sigh. Very few people knew just HOW good she was with a computer. Her skills –and generally inquisitive nature- had nearly gotten her into trouble a few times. Once, when her mother's work as a civilian defense contractor had taken them to Kansas, Angela had almost gotten caught breaking into the computers at Fort Riley. (Angela's justification was that she was bored. There was nothing to do in Kansas. The only upside of living there was that she'd been able to start learning to drive at a very early age (as Kansas issued learner's permits when one was fourteen). Since they'd moved permanently to New York, things were a little better. (At least she'd convinced her mother to let her attend the nearby Millard Fillmore high school, rather going to an all-girl's Catholic school as her mother had wanted.) But, she still felt there was something really missing from her life. Like as if her abilities with a computer could be put to good use somewhere. If only…Her thoughts were interrupted by her cell phone ringing. She reached over to answer it.

"Hello"

"Angela" A painfully strained voice sounded on the other end of the line. It took Angela a second to recognize it.

"Mindy?"

"Yeah"

"Are you ok? What's the matter?"

"We need help."

"Who's 'we'?"

"Dave and I"

"What's the matter?"

"I can't tell you on the phone."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't." Mindy said with a strained intensity. "Look, we really need your help. Can you come?"

"Where are you?"

"A few blocks from your house. You know that garage on Bleaker Street, by the donut shop?"

"Yeah"

"We're around there. Can you use your mom's car?"

"What? She'll freak!"

"It's an emergency. I swear it.!" Mindy said tensely.

"Ok. I'll be there in five minutes."

"Thanks. Just pull up in front of the alley and leave the doors unlocked."

"What?!"

"Trust me. You'll understand when you see us."

"I'd better."

"You will." Mindy said as she ended the call and looked at Dave. The dye had been cast. Now all they could do was wait and hope that Angela would come through for them.

Five minutes later, a Toyota sedan pulled up in front of the alley with a screech. Inside, Angela could be seen looking around.

"Ready?" Mindy asked as she put her arms around Dave.

"Yeah…You just tell me where we're going? I could drop us both down a fucking manhole." Dave replied.

"Ok…Go!" Mindy commanded. The two injured crimefighters hurried out of the shadows, across the narrow sidewalk and into the car. Angela's head snapped around as they fell into the backseat. She hadn't even seen them. Her eyes went wide as she took in the sight. Instead of Dave and Mindy –in whatever condition she was expecting- it was Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl. What the hell was going on here?! As she her brain began to connect the dots, Hit-Girl yelled at her.

"GO!" The purple-clad heroine shouted in a very familiar voice. Angela's eyes went even wider and her jaw dropped.

"Mindy?"

Hit-Girl, painfully reached up and pulled her purple wig off, followed by her mask, to reveal the blonde hair and features of Mindy Macready. "Angela…drive!" She commanded again.

With shaking hands, Angela complied, pulling the car out into the street. Luckily there was little traffic as Angela definitely could now be rated as a distracted driver.

In the back seat, Mindy had crouched down, pulling Dave (Angela could only surmise that it was Dave beneath the green mask; her suspicion was confirmed as Dave pulled it off.)

"Ohmygod! Ohmygod! Ohmygod!" Angela was mumbling from the driver's seat.

"She's freaking, isn't she?" Dave sighed sarcastically.

"About a nine point five out of ten on the freak-out scale." Mindy sighed. "Angela."

"WHAT?"

"Ok, calm the hell down. You know who we are. That means you know we're the good guys. We're not going to hurt you or anything."

"You two…you're…"

"Yes. We know."

"What happened to you?"

"A few complications."

"Are you alright?"

"We're not sure. We need you to take us to see someone."

"Who?"

"Sting"

"STING? He's a superhero too?!" Angela screeched as Mindy realized her words had been misinterpreted.

"Yes and no. There's a hero named Sting, but he's not the one who does 'Fields of Gold'." Mindy said. "Take a left" She directed as Angela began to bubble over with questions.

"How're you feeling now, Dave?" Asked the athletic looking man in scrubs a few hours later.

"A lot less insane." Dave said with a grin as he sat up from the examination table. "What was that anyways?"

"I'm not sure. From your description it sounded some really concentrated form of peyote or maybe salvia. It seems to have worn off more or less on its own. Just rest up for a day or so and you'll be back to normal. I would like to find out what it was though. I may want to add it to my little black bag of tricks." The anesthesiologist who was known also as the crimefighter Sting (due to his preference for using darts tipped with Novocaine, Pentothal and other incapacitating agents) said. "And how's our other patient doing?" He said turning to his other examination table and pulled back the curtain. On the other side, was Mindy, sitting on the table, zipping up a borrowed sweat top with gritted teeth.

"I'm fine" She said. Sting looked at the attractive young woman with the dark hair done in a pixie cut for confirmation of what Mindy had said.

"She'll be fine. Nothing was broken, but you're going to be as purple as your costume for a week or two from the bruises." Said White Mage, a former combat medic (with service in both Iraq and Afghanistan) informed her.

"Thanks Alice." Mindy said. (White Mage was the target of much good natured teasing in Justice Forever, due to her given name and the fact that she very much resembled Ashley Greene in the role of Alice Cullen.)

"Anytime Mindy" Alice said helping Mindy to the floor. "How about your friend?" She gestured to a chair where Angela was sitting, looking like her concept of reality had been beaten like a red-haired stepchild riding atop a rented mule.

"Oh..yeah…Um, Alice this is Angela. Angela, meet Alice." Mindy said.

"Pleased to meet you. Any friend of Dave and Mindy's…" Alice said pleasantly. "Now, if you'll not be needing up any more, Sting-a-ling and I had were going for a late dinner." White Mage said with a gleeful giggle. Mindy noted that Angela actually grinned at that. She had a feeling that the two of them would get to be friends…once the shock wore off of Angela, at least.

"You two…?" Mindy asked in a conspiratorial tone.

"I'm a sucker for a superhero in scrubs." Alice quipped as she and Sting left the room, leaving the three Millard Fillmore students alone.

"So…" Mindy began sheepishly.

"You and Dave…You're Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass…I guess…It fits. I always wondered what the two of you could have in common that made you so tight. I never would've guessed it though."

"We kind of hope to keep it that way." Dave said.

"I swear I'll never tell anyone." Angela said solemnly. "But, I want to know…How'd you two start? How'd you meet?...How…" Mindy cut her off.

"Tell you what…Let's go back to your place and we'll tell you all about it." Mindy said with a smile. "Oh" She said as they walked out to where Angela had parked the car. (It was in front of Sting's townhouse that doubled as his headquarters as well as an emergency clinic for any injured Justice Forever members.) "Alice said I'm off of patrols for a couple of weeks."

"Yeah?"

Mindy sighed resignedly. "Maybe we can do that _Glee_ thing since I'll have some time on my hands for the next little while." She finished with a smile. For the first time since learning their secret, Angela's face broke into her customary broad grin.

The Present

"So, what do you want to do when we do our girl's night out thing with Jessi?" Angela asked after they'd showered and changed clothes.

"I don't know. Maybe we can get dinner or something." Mindy said as she looked around Angela's bedroom. It was much like her own in how ordinary it appeared. The main difference was the amount of computer equipment present. Soon after learning the truth, Angela had offered her services in doing research for Dave and Mindy. As the months went by, her role evolved to essentially running their mission control. In time, other members of Justice Forever had come to rely on her services as well. Oftentimes, Angela would be coordinating and dispatching heroes to locations all across the five Boroughs.

Mindy smiled as she reflected on what had happened. She'd brought Angela into the world she and Dave operated in. As a result Angela had gone from an average high school student whose main extra-curricular interest was cheerleading, to the hyper-efficient eyes and ears of Justice Forever. In the meantime, Mindy herself now found herself doing normal stuff like watching _Glee_ on DVD (she had to admit that although the plots were lame, she thought the singing was amazing) and having girls night out. Angela, in a trade, had helped her into her own world as well and allowed Mindy to develop a real social life outside of being Hit-Girl.

It was, Mindy thought, a most fair trade.


	8. Chapter 8

_Greetings, dear readers._

_Again, sorry for the delays in between postings of this fic. However, I find writing this to be rather mentally intensive, so it takes a little more time than my other fics._

_People were asking how Todd finds out their secret identities in this story. So, this is my author's response to that._

_I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. It is a little shorter than usual. I'm trying to Makokam the chapters to get them up faster._

_I do so hope everyone reviews. :-D_

_And awayyy we go..._

* * *

><p>"Come on Todd, two more." Dave said from his spotting position behind the bench.<p>

Todd Haynes grunted and painfully complied, lowering the barbell to his chest and pressing it off his pectorals two more times. The last time, Dave caught it and guided it back onto the rack.

"Good job." Dave commented as Todd lifted himself off of the bench.

"Thanks" Todd said in a very tired tone of voice as he grabbed his towel.

"Tired?"

"Very"

"Be glad it wasn't Mindy. You'd be out cold now." Dave said with a laugh.

"Yeah, I know." Todd said as he recalled the times the group of them went running together in the summer. Mindy seemed to think that if you still had enough energy to moan, you weren't trying. He looked at himself in the mirror. He had definitely improved from where he'd been in terms of his physique. Of course, he wasn't anywhere close to Dave; but Dave –to put it frankly- had a whole different set of needs. He maintained, improved and –sometimes- built equipment for Dave and Mindy, in addition to his skill set behind a rifle scope. Dave got into streetfights with thugs on a near daily basis. As a result, Dave's need for extensive physical conditioning far surpassed his own. Todd was content just to be in decent shape and look good.

"Want to hit Atomic tonight?" Dave asked.

"Sure" Todd replied. "No patrol tonight?"

"Jessi's back in town, so Mindy and Angela are going out with her. So, you know the rule."

"Yeah" Todd said in reference to the fact that one of Dave and Mindy's hardcore rules was that, unless it was an extreme emergency situation, they didn't operate alone. If one of them couldn't be in costume for whatever reason, the other stayed home too. Todd could completely see the logic in that. The two were a team and were used to watching each other's back. If Todd was a regular field operative, he certainly wouldn't want to be out there on his own. He knew that the majority of Justice Forever shared that opinion. They regularly paired off for patrols. Some, like the Bronx Bomber and Babe Ruthless, were an established team upon joining the group. Others –who were lone operatives- joined up with another solo act depending on who was working that night and in what area. In fact, one of the jobs Angela did was organize duty rosters and set up patrol teams. Dave and Mindy would occasionally allow a third costumed hero to join them on patrol –usually it was either a newcomer to Justice Forever, who was being critiqued by the team's two most respected members, or sometimes just a member whose assigned partner for the night had to bail and simply wanted to patrol with others.

"Let's call Marty." Todd said. "Maybe he'll want to come along. They don't have Atomic Comics down in D.C."

"They have a lot of crime though." Dave said in reference to the nation's capitol where Marty went to school at George Washington University.

"Yeah…Has Marty told you that he's dusted off Battle Guy?"

"Are you shitting me?" Dave asked with concern. Marty, he knew, was a good guy and had a lot of brains. However, he simply was not physically cut out for crimefighting. His previous sojourn as Battle Guy had nearly gotten him killed.

"No, I'm afraid not. But from what he said, it sounds like he's doing it more like a neighbourhood watch. He goes out and calls it in to the police."

"That's good." Dave said with relief.

"It's funny, isn't it?"

"What is?"

"Well, remember that time in Atomic, when you asked how come nobody's ever tried to be a superhero? Marty and I both thought that anyone would be crazy to try it…and now look at us."

Dave had to smile at the memory. "I sort of think that every one of us out there spent a lot of time in comic book stores as a kid. I guess it just took someone to take that first step."

Todd nodded in acknowledgement. "Have you ever thought about how much good everyone has done the last few years, and it's all because of you starting it? If you hadn't taken that first step, nobody else would have."

Dave shook his head dismissively. "No, Mindy and her dad were already doing it before I even ordered my first outfit. Hell, Mindy had been training for it since she was five."

"Yeah, but they weren't public about it. From what you've said, it was all about her dad wanting revenge. They didn't want people knowing about them."

"Yeah, you're right. They had a point you know. I never thought that operating publically could put a target on my back." Dave said as he thought about how naïve he was when he embarked on what would become his life's calling. He also thought, with more than a little guilt, about that party entertainer who was murdered while wearing a Kick-Ass costume. It was generally thought that whoever killed him thought it was the real Kick-Ass. (The crime was officially still unsolved; but Dave and Mindy suspected that Frank D'Amico was behind it, even if they had no way to prove it with D'Amico and almost all his organization dead.)

"I think I would have shit myself and died if I'd woken up to see Mindy and her dad standing in my room like that." Todd said with a laugh as he recalled what Dave had told him of Big Daddy and Hit-Girl's first visit to the Lizewski house.

"Fuck, don't think I didn't come close to it." Dave laughed. It was indeed a nerve rattling experience. Of course, he himself had now terrified countless lowlifes who'd awakened to find that Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl had tracked them down. "You had a pretty epic freak-out yourself, when you found out about us."

"I can't deny that." Todd chuckled as he thought back to almost two years ago….

Two Years Before

"Hey Todd, come on in." Mindy said as she opened the door for Todd.

"Todd…You all set to lose in a big way?" Dave called from the den where he was setting up Mindy's Wii.

"No way, man. You're going down." Todd replied as he hung up his jacket.

"Aw dude, are you two going to get all homo-erotically aggressive here?" Mindy joked. It was a Saturday afternoon, the first full day of spring break. Dave and Mindy, after a patrol the night before, had decided to celebrate the start of vacation –Dave's last prior to his graduating from Millard Fillmore High School- by inviting their friends over to Mindy's to play come computer games. So far, Todd was the only one to arrive.

"Thanks for having me over." Todd said.

"Anytime" Mindy replied.

Todd spared Mindy a brief glance as the two walked to the den. He enjoyed hanging out with her, there was no question. She was smart and really funny…not to mention that after she'd put two large bullies in the hospital on her first day of school almost two years before, nobody ever messed with him anymore once the word got around they were friends. Still, Todd couldn't help but wonder about her relationship with Dave. It was like Mindy had appeared out of nowhere. Dave had never mentioned her to either him or Marty ever before. Then, she just showed up with Dave one at Atomic Comics. Both he and Marty had thought that really weird. The three of them had been friends since kindergarten and had always shared the same –very small- social circle. Then, all of a sudden, Dave is friends with this little girl who was maybe eleven or twelve. And if that wasn't surprising enough, it was just HOW close they were as friends. Dave and Mindy were almost never seen apart. They hung out together. They ate lunch together whenever their schedules permitted. They seemed to have a connection that neither Todd or Marty could decipher. Of course, once they got to know Mindy, Todd and Marty could understand just why Dave would be friends with her. She was –despite her young age- the coolest person any of them knew. It still didn't explain just how she and Dave met –neither of them had ever really revealed that- or just what made them inseparable best friends. (Both he and Marty had come to the conclusion that it was Mindy who'd prevented Dave from having a complete meltdown when Katie moved away three months before.) Todd was aware enough to know that Dave seemed to let Mindy into a part of his life that nobody else was allowed into. Just what that was though, remained a complete blank to him. Todd decided not to dwell on it and just enjoy the afternoon.

It was a half-hour later when it happened. Todd and Mindy had the Wii controls and were playing a first-person shooter game. Todd usually excelled at those because he seemed to have incredibly good aiming abilities. Mindy, however, was more than able to give him a run for his money.

The game was growing intense. (Mindy would later decide she'd gotten so into it, she'd allowed her vigilance to lapse.) A target loomed onto the screen. Eliminating it would gain her victory. Mindy raised her right arm up to aim her controller and growled out words that had been ingrained in Todd's mind for a very long time…

"Show's over, motherfuckers!" Mindy said as she fired her controller, dropping her electronic foe. She turned to Todd, to gloat over her victory…only to see him staring at her slack-jawed, with his Wii controller dropping from his hand.

" 'Show's over…'?" Todd repeated to himself as wheels began to turn and his eyes went wide. "You…It's you…" He stammered.

"What do you mean?" Mindy asked as she tried to force herself to remain casual. As soon as she saw Todd's reaction, she'd realized her lapse and had correctly discerned what Todd was thinking. She cursed herself for being careless. Around anyone else, she might have been able to get away with that. However, she knew –from what Marty had told her- that Todd had studied that one bit of internet footage very closely. He'd clearly recognized both her voice, her demeanour… even her body language. This was not good.

"You…You were in that video….Holy shit…YOU'RE HIT-GIRL!" Todd yelled as the realization fully hit him. Just then, he felt Dave's strong grip on his shoulder as he was spun around.

"Todd…Shut up!" Dave hissed. He was afraid that if Todd didn't calm down, the neighbours might overhear.

Todd meanwhile, was starting to make more connections. The way Dave had spent all that time in the hospital…His newfound confidant bearings and attitude…The fact that he seemed to be spending an inordinate amount of time in the gym and greatly muscled up. Those facts alone didn't mean too much. But, if he was best friends with Mindy…and Mindy was Hit-Girl…and Hit-Girl always worked with Kick-Ass….That could only mean…

"Kick-Ass?" Todd whispered cautiously. He wondered again just how Dave could have become one of the city's two best crimefighters without him or Marty EVER suspecting.

Dave and Mindy looked at each other and sighed. The jig was up and they both knew it. They sat down on the couch together and pulled the stunned Todd down between them.

"Yeah Todd….That's right." Dave said. "You've figured it out. You know what it means if anyone else learns about it?" Dave said seriously as the ramifications dawned on Todd that he'd just fallen into what had to be a very small circle of confidence.

A short time later, after he'd given his word that he'd never reveal their secrets to anyone, Todd was splashing some cold water on his face. As he exited the bathroom, Mindy was standing outside waiting for him. He gulped silently as he now realized just what she was capable of doing to people.

"You ok?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I…I guess. I'm just trying to wrap my head around it." Todd admitted honestly.

"I can see that. I guess playing shooter games wasn't the smartest thing to do." Mindy said with a small smile.

"If I hadn't heard you say it, just like in that video…I never would have guessed." Todd said.

"I should've remembered. Marty told me how much you've watched it." Mindy said as Todd's face got even paler than it had already been.

"Marty told you….everything?" Todd squeaked.

"Oh, hell yeah." Mindy said. "Ah, now that we're on the subject…Do you mind if I ask…?" She started to say. She really hoped Todd didn't still harbour a crush on Hit-Girl…on her…It would make the situation even more awkward than it already was. She would hate to have to give him the infamous speech about her not liking him like that. (Although it was a cliché, it was true: Mindy like Todd immensely…but not in any romantic way.) It would be a further complication since she'd realized that her feelings for Dave ran far beyond friendship.

"Oh…I guess I really shouldn't have talked about that with Marty." Todd tried to laugh, before sighing. "No, I don't really feel anything like that about you. I mean, I guess I had this crush on Hit-Girl when she was still some mysterious person on the internet. She was someone so cool that I knew she'd never look at me, so it was safe for me to think about her. But you…You're one of my best friends, Mindy." Todd said with complete honesty. "And that's really what I could ever feel for you…just friendship. Hit-Girl, I guess, can't be a fantasy any longer. She's a reality. She's you." Todd said. He didn't add that he could tell –after factoring everything in- that even if he had felt that way about Mindy –which he definitely didn't- he could see that Mindy and Dave were simply too tight. It was all too clear now. That was why Dave had survived Katie's leaving…He had Mindy now. It was all too clear to Todd that even if he'd had romantic feelings for Mindy, she belonged to Dave and vice versa.

"I'm sorry if finding out, took away your fantasy." Mindy said with sympathy. In her opinion, having fantasies like that didn't have to be a bad thing. The world could be a shitty place. Hence, it was good to have a fantasy to fall back on.

"It's alright. I guess I've spent too much of my time hanging out at Atomic already. I need to get more into reality. And, I think –once I can get used to the idea- that being best friends with Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl is way better than any dreams about someone on the internet." Todd said.

"You know Todd…I think you're way smarter than most people give you credit for." Mindy said as she gave him a quick hug. "And let me tell you…You are a really good guy. Do not let anyone tell you anything different EVER, or they'll answer to me." She said with a smile.

"Thanks…Say, can I ask a favour?" Todd asked sheepishly.

"What is it?"

"Can I…see your costume?"

Mindy laughed. "I'll show it to you before you leave."

Just then, the two of them heard voices from the other room. Angela then appeared at the end of the hallway, having finally made it over.

"Hey…Dave told me what happened."

"You know?" Todd gasped.

"I kind of found out by necessity back in January." Angela said. "You're handling it better than I did." She said with a helpful smile.

Mindy took that opportunity to slip away back to the other room. She wanted to talk about this with Dave, while they got some snacks for everyone from the kitchen. Besides, she figured Todd and Angela now had a lot more in common than they did just a few hours ago…

"I just can't believe it…" Todd said.

"I know. I mean, I know I've only known the two of them for a few months, but still…"

"Hey, I've known Dave since kindergarten and today, I found out that he's been Kick-Ass this whole time." Todd said with a disbelieving shake of his head.

"Look at it this way: we're now in probably the smallest and coolest clique at school…Your best friend and my best friend, are superheroes." Angela said as her emerald green eyes sparkled.

The Present

Who'd have thought, Todd thought to himself, that an afternoon of playing Wii could change his life so much? He was now a part of the team. He'd finally found a real purpose in his life. And best of all…It had allowed him to get close to Angela. He'd liked Mindy's red-headed friend from the first time they'd met. And the close circle they'd formed around Dave and Mindy had allowed them to get really close. He could hardly wait for the Justice Forever party tomorrow evening, their first actual date.

"So, that sounds like a plan. We hook up with Marty, go for pizza or burgers and then hit Atomic Comics…Just like the old days." Dave said as he remembered a far simply –but not as enjoyable- time.

"Just like the old days…" Todd mused. "Say, did you ever think, in all those times we spent reading superhero comics that one day the three of us would be doing it –in some way- for real?"

"No. I didn't think we could ever be that cool or that lucky." Dave replied as they opened some cans of protein shakes following their workout.

As Todd drank his, he thought about how he and Dave had changed from the hapless geeks who had practically lived at Atomic Comics when they were in high school. Then, he thought about the work they know did, and especially Mindy and Angela. Todd freely admitted to himself that he was head over heels for Angela. As for Dave and Mindy…It was painfully clear to him how they felt about each other. What was holding them back, he didn't know. He did know that trying to do anything about that was a pretty bad idea. He just hoped, for his friends' sakes that they came to their senses sooner or later. "I know what you mean." He replied simply as he downed his own protein drink.


	9. Chapter 9

_Greetings dear readers._

_Man, this was a bear of a chapter to get written. I felt like it just wasn't working for me as I wrote it. I didn't feel it really start to get easy until I got to the party. It took me three evenings to get it all written._

_The scene in the Starbucks with Mindy and Angela might seem a little...crude...But I was chuckling over that for a long time. Plus, when you write _Kick-Ass_. I figure crude is part of the deal. LOL_

_I was actually going to write a scene where Dave and Mindy, meet up with their friends at the mall, but I just couldn't find a way to work that in and give them something to do that would move the plot along. So, I found the switch over to Riker's worked a lot better._

_I'm hoping for some review here. :-D_

_And awayyyy we go. :-)_

_P.S. The scene of Marcus' early fight is definitely inspired by _Family Guy_. I saw one where Peter fought with the Giant Chicken and I felt I just had to work that in somehow. It's a comic non-sequitor that I hope everyone gets a chuckle from._

* * *

><p>Mindy tugged down the hem of her red Christmas sweater to be sure it smoothed out, as she stepped into the kitchen. She looked at her watch again and saw that she had about twenty minutes, or so, until it was time to leave for the Justice Forever Christmas party.<p>

Behind her, she heard Marcus shuffling painfully into the kitchen. She turned around to see her adopted father, wearily and painfully go to the freezer to remove a fresh cold pack.

"How're you feeling?" She asked him. He looked pretty tired and sore.

"In pain" Marcus replied.

"You did go a few good rounds last night." Mindy noted sympathetically as she handed Marcus a bottle of Motrin.

"Don't remind me." Marcus grumbled.

Just then, Mindy saw something on the laptop that was set up on the kitchen table. She sighed "I think the video is playing again."

"Aw, hell no!" Marcus sighed as the video of his encounter the previous night was going viral.

"Look at the bright side. This was how Dave got his start."

"I don't want to be a superhero. I don't want to be a celebrity. I'm a cop…I'm a cop who feels he's getting too old for this type of shit that went down last night." Marcus grumbled discontentedly.

"Listen…Maybe they've put in some new sound effects." Mindy said as she turned up the laptop's sound controls…

"_Last night on the Lower East Side, a gang of armed robbers were filmed by a by-stander as they were arrested by New York's Finest…But maybe they should've called animal control instead…." _ The amused voice of the narrator said.

On the screen was the gang who'd been holding up bodegas on the Lower East Side. What marked them as unique was the fact that they were all dressed in head-to-toe animal costumes. There was a mouse, a pig and a chicken. All were in the process of being searched by uniformed officers when Marcus –who'd been literally around the corner when the radio call went out for Major Crimes to attend the scene due to the strange _Modus Operandi - _arrived. He had just begun to ask the uniform officer in charge what the situation was when the six-foot tall robber in the chicken costume tried to make a break for it. Marcus though, grabbed him before he could get away. However, that apparently didn't deter the escaping chicken-suited bandit, as he then punched Marcus right in the face. Marcus instinctively punched back…and the fight was on. The sight of a grown man –and a cop at that- having a brawl in the streets with a six foot chicken was apparently enough to cause everyone –other cops included- to stop and gawk. Marcus was standing his ground and exchanging punches with the costumed felon. (The padded costume both prevented Marcus from receiving any damaging blows, but also cushioned his own punches enough that he couldn't harm his opponent either.) Finally, Marcus saw an opening and went for it…driving his foot into the chicken's groin. The costumed robber fell to his knees, clutching himself and toppled over. Marcus was then heard yelling angrily –with a few words bleeped out by censors- for someone to put handcuffs on him. This most recent video had someone dub over Marcus' voice with an imitation of Peter Griffin. Then the video replayed Marcus' fight-ending kick and a voiceover said if anyone wanted take-out, it was chicken ball night…Which caused Mindy to erupt in laughter. Marcus shot her a dirty look.

"It's not funny."

"Marcus you got into a fistfight with a giant chicken."

"This city is getting crazier every damn day. When I started out on the job, it was muggers…armed robbers…pickpockets…Now, it's nuts in chicken costumes." Marcus said with disgust –more at being the newest internet sensation of the moment than anything else.

"Don't let it ruffle your feathers." Mindy said mockingly as she kissed Marcus on the cheek and grabbed her coat and a duffle bag containing her costume. Marcus shot her an even dirtier look.

"I hope there's no patrol in addition to the party."

"No. This is a purely social night." Mindy informed him.

"Well have fun…I'm going to sit here, watch _Game of Thrones_, and wonder when the city went crazy." Marcus said as he slowly walked back to the den.

Mindy shut the door behind her and waited outside for Dave to pick her up. The previous night had been a most fun one. She, Angela and Jessi had gone out together for dinner and had spent a huge amount of time catching up. Jessi had apparently taken well to living in Western New York and was making an effective fresh start after her problems in the City.

That afternoon, the three had met again at Atomic Comics with Dave, Todd and Marty…Only they had brought Dillon along. Dillon had met Jessi a couple of times before she moved away. However, this time something definitely clicked when they met again. In Mindy's opinion all that was needed was some cheesy romantic background music as they looked at one another.

Soon enough, Dillon and Jessi were making some sort of plans for the evening. Mindy wasn't quite sure what they had planned. All she knew for certain was that Jessi wasn't the least bit put out that Mindy and Angela had prior plans. (To be honest, they weren't even sure she had been paying attention when they told her they would be out that night.) Mindy looked at her watch again. She and Dave had to make a stop on the way to the party, as they were picking up the food for the event.

After a few minutes, Mindy saw a black Dodge Caravan turn the corner and drive up to where she was standing. She recognized it as a vehicle belonging to John Genovese, aka Colonel Stars. She saw Dave behind the wheel and realized that John must have lent Dave his minivan in order to pick up the food. Mindy found it rather amusing that a former Mafioso turned costumed vigilante –a man who was feared by criminals and who was very wealthy to boot- drove a minivan as his personal vehicle. (He proclaimed it was to drive his grandchildren around.)

The Caravan stopped in front of the house and Mindy got in with her costume bag.

"Hey" She greeted Dave.

"Hey" He replied back with a smile.

She sniffed the air. "Dude…Did you fall into a vat of English Leather?"

"What? You think it's too strong?"

"If we were on patrol tonight, they'd smell you coming from three blocks away."

"It can't be that bad."

"I can't put on aftershave too much because of patrols. I wanted to indulge." Dave said as he shifted the minivan into gear and maneuvered through the residential side streets. "Todd said he got a new bottle of Stetson to impress Angela with." He said with a grin.

"Shit, he'll knock Angela out cold if he puts on as much as you have." Mindy laughed. "Ok…Let's get the food. I can't wait to do this." Mindy said with a definite cackle as she began to pull her items of her costume from the bag.

* * *

><p>Daniel Aloysius Malone walked through the kitchen of his West Village Bistro. He was supervising his kitchen staff as they went about preparing the appetizers for the beginning of the evening dinner rush. So far, there were no issues that required his attention. That was good, as he had to prepare a take-out order.<p>

Malone went to the back counters and –grabbing an order sheet- checked off that all the items had been properly prepared and placed in large take-out trays that had been in turn placed in thermal bags. His sojourn from low-level hoodlum to chef and restaurant owner was going well thus far. He was the head chef –and partner- in a fairly successful establishment in a decent neighbourhood. They had been in operation for less than a year but had gotten good reviews from critics –thus giving them an excellent reputation in the residential West Village neighbourhood. They also provided take-out catering, which was especially busy now that the Christmas party season was in full swing.

Malone opened up a bottle of Evian –the hot kitchen and constantly tasting food tended to make one thirsty- and took a drink as the phone rang. Answering it, he found a voice that was familiar but he couldn't quite place.

"Hi…Is the take-out order ready?"

"You mean the big one for the party?"

"That's it."

"It's all set."

"Good…Someone will be at your kitchen door to pick it up."

"What? When…?" Malone said, as this was usually not how people picked up orders. Just then, there was a knocking at the kitchen door.

"Right about now, I would say." Said the voice on the line, right before the call was ended.

Malone, deciding that there were some decidedly weird customers in this line of work, sighed and went to open the kitchen door while taking a drink from his bottle of Evian. As the door swung open…Hit-Girl was standing in the doorway, hands on her hips and a devious grin on her face. Malone promptly did a classic spit-take of his water.

"Hey there, Malone; what's up?" She said cheerfully.

Malone tried to think of a good reply as his mind raced. The voice on the phone he now recognized as belonging to Kick-Ass. His knees began to tremble. After more than three and a half years since she shot him, Malone still had not gotten over the terror the sight of her provoked in him. Even though he'd had encounters with her and Kick-Ass in the ensuing time –after the Santa Claus Strangler case, they'd dropped by to let him know they were keeping their eye on him to make sure he stayed on the straight and narrow path- he still had this nagging phobia that she would finish him off some day.

"Is that our order? Cool." Hit-Girl said with a smirk.

Malone could only nod dumbly as he realized that it was Hit-Girl who was his customer. The purple-clad crimefighter strode casually into the kitchen. Luckily, the rest of the kitchen staff was sufficiently engrossed in their work that they didn't take note of who the customer was.

Hit-Girl looked at the invoice on one of the thermal bags, reached into a pocket of her costume and removed some cash. She picked up the bags and placed the cash on the counter.

"Keep the change." She said with a taunting sweetness as she walked out the door with the order "We'll have someone return the bags tomorrow…And Merry Christmas." She said as she left as swiftly as she came. Malone said down heavily on a stool, suddenly desiring a glass of Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey. As he slowly recovered his bearings, he thought that he might be able to profit from this. After all, there weren't too many establishments in New York City that could tout that they were the preferred caterer of superheroes.

Mindy swiftly stacked the food bags in the back of the minivan and hopped into the passenger seat beside Dave, pulling off her mask and wig as she did so. Dave started the Caravan up and pulled it out of the back alley as Mindy removed the net from her hair and allowed it fall down loose over her shoulders.

"How'd it go?" Dave asked with a smile. He already had a pretty good idea about that.

"Let's just say that if Malone had tendencies to imitate Gordon Ramsey in the kitchen, I don't think he'll be able to do that for a while…He still has to pull his jaw up off the floor."

"He was surprised?" Dave asked rhetorically.

"Oh hell yeah." Mindy replied. "I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his skull, or something."

"Well, the food smells good at least." Dave noted as he drove.

"It's been good whenever we've gone there." Mindy replied. Various members of Justice Forever had actually gone and eaten at Malone's establishment since it opened. In their civilian guises, Malone was blissfully unaware that various costumed crimefighters were dining on his specials.

Mindy's cell phone chimed a text then. She looked at the message. "Alice said she's picked up the cake." She informed Dave. "I still say it should be purple icing." She grumbled.

Dave shook his head with a smile and stole a loving glance over at Mindy as he maneuvered the large minivan –he was used to driving the far smaller and more agile Mistmobile, or at the very least his dad's sedan- through the evening traffic to the party.

* * *

><p>Three hours later, the party was in full swing. It was being held –as it was the previous year- in a bar located above Justice Forever's basement headquarters. Both the bar and the entire building were owned by John Genovese. So, he simply had the bar closed for the night to host a private party and gave his regular staff the night off.<p>

As the bar's regular staff was off, the various JF members were handling everything themselves. The Gentleman –who in his civilian guise was a grad student and fraternity member…and thus a survivor of some epic parties- was acting as bartender. The Guardian was handling the music. In addition to regular Christmas classics, the Justice Forever membership had brought in CD's to contribute to the night's entertainment. The Guardian was perusing the selection with varying degrees of disbelief at the musical tastes of his colleagues. Colonel Stars' had an apparent love of Jon Bon Jovi. And Hit-Girl…her tastes seemed to lean towards bubblegum punk. Among the music she brought in were The Dickies as well as Joan Jett.

Throughout the room, the assembled Justice Forever members enjoyed the food, beverages and music as they relaxed and allowed themselves to forget the dangerous work that to a person they were all hopelessly addicted to.

Dave saw a couple canoodling in a booth. The girl had rather impressively big hair. The guy's hair was nicely gelled into a blowback style. He was wearing a leather jacket over a turtleneck sweater and had a gold necklace with a New York Yankees logo on it. The girl had a matching necklace. Dave shook his head with a grin. In his opinion, the Bronx Bomber and Babe Ruthless could stand to be a little more subtle about concealing their identities. Of course, they lived in The Bronx, so they really didn't look that different from anyone else.

"Hey Vinnie…Lisa..." Dave said in a greeting. The pair looked up and acknowledged him.

"Hey Dave…How's it going?" Vinnie asked.

"Same old…Glad to be done with classes until January."

"Yeah…We're busy ourselves…Everyone who's driving out of town are bringing their cars in for tune-ups before they leave." Lisa said. The two of them owned and operated a garage for their civilian jobs.

"You two aren't going away for the holidays?" Dave asked.

"Nah, we always go down to Florida in March." Vinnie said.

"Tampa?" Dave asked knowingly.

"We've already got tickets for Steinbrenner Field." Lisa said proudly. The two had an annual tradition of going down to Florida to watch their beloved New York Yankees play during spring training in the Grapefruit League.

"Did you see the Yankees' website?" Vinnie asked. "They've got a fan page up for the two of us. I heard they're even putting up posters of us at Yankee Stadium on Opening Day next year."

"I'm gonna donate a bat I used so they can put it in a case. It's one I used to bust open the head of a mook selling weed by John Randolph Elementary School in Soundview. The douche was even trying to recruit the kids to sell to their friends. Well, at least until I laid his head open with my Louisville Slugger." Lisa said nostalgically.

"Ah Dave, you should've seen it. It was a work of art." Vinnie said. "The bastard didn't see her coming until she was already just ready to swing the bat at him. He turned around and saw her…and he pissed himself right before she connected."

"The look on his face right before I connected wood to skin…I just wish I'd had a hand free to take a picture of it." Lisa said with a contented sigh. "His blood is still in that bat. It was so beautiful, I never cleaned it off."

"Ah babe, you were awesome. It was like watching Don Mattingly knock one over The Façade at the Old Stadium."

"Babe…You thought I was like Mattingly?" Lisa asked, with her eyes lighting up.

"Oh yeah, babe…It was like Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Reggie Jackson, Don Mattingly and Josh Hamilton all rolled into one." Vinnie said as Lisa began to breathe heavily.

"Oh babe…You're making me hot." Lisa panted

"Hey babe…Let's go somewhere private." Vinnie said breathlessly.

As the two got up and looked around, they saw Alice emerge from the Ladies' Room. The two made a beeline for there and audibly locked the door behind them.

Alice walked over to Dave with a raised eyebrow.

"What were they talking about this time?" She asked him.

"About how she split open a drug dealer's head with a baseball bat and how she looked like one of the Yankee greats."

"Ah. Last time that happened, it was after they were telling me about when they hospitalized some gun runners from out of town who turned out to be Baltimore Orioles' fans." Alice said as she looked at the shut door to the Ladies Room.

"That must have been awkward."

"Yeah it was; especially as I was at their place and left sitting in the kitchen with Lisa's niece when they went off together to reminisce." Alice said. "I was hoping that I wouldn't be asked by a seven year old what those noises coming from the bathroom were."

"At least they didn't rag on me for liking the Mets." Dave said with a bemused look.

"At least they don't look at you like you're from another planet when you tell them that your team is the Rangers." Alice said with a smile. She'd long preferred hockey over baseball.

"Imagine if I told them my dad likes the Islanders." Dave responded. Casimir Lizewski harboured nostalgic memories of the New Yoirk Islanders' Stanley Cup dynasty of the early 1980's.

"He needs an intervention." Alice said with a laugh as she headed back to the table she and Sting were eating at.

Dave strolled over to the buffet table, where Mindy was talking with Todd and Angela as she loaded up her plate.

"Where did Vinnie and Lisa go?" Mindy asked as she spotted the now empty booth.

"They got to telling me about how she split open a drug dealers' head with a bat….So, I hope you and Angela don't have to use the Ladies' Room for the next five to ten minutes, or so."

"Ew" Angela declared as she looked over at the Ladies Room door. "Last summer they were doing that on a stakeout and left their mics to my console open…" She shook her head as if to rid herself of the memory. "All I heard was moaning and they weren't answering my calls. I was about to send out an emergency call to everyone to go help when I realized what they were doing."

"I'm so glad you didn't send the call." Mindy said as she imagined doing an emergency run –an emergency call was a high priority alert indicating a Justice Forever member was in serious trouble and anyone available was to go help immediately. It was a rare event, but one that was taken seriously by all members- to the Bronx for a false alarm.

"It's better than behind the dumpster at Atomic Comics." Todd said as he refilled his plate, not noticing the innocent look Dave tried to project. "Marty and I used to find condom wrappers out there, but we never figured out who it was."

"Ok…Everyone shut the fuck up about that. We're eating." Mindy declared with an incredulous shake of her head. "Whoever would do it by a dumpster in public has to be a total loser of a dickhead and the chick would have to be a complete skankoid." Mindy declared. "Am I right, Dave?" She asked her partner.

"Oh totally." Dave said with what he hoped was his most condemning yet innocent voice.

* * *

><p>It was later still in the evening. The party –which all had declared to be a major success- was starting to wind down. Sting and Alice were slow dancing to an easy listening CD on the dance floor, as were Todd and Angela. Seated at the bar, sipping her Diet Coke, Mindy watched her friends carefully. It looked like their first date was going very well. Angela was practically beaming with excitement…even by her standards. Mindy was happy for Angela…as well as a little jealous. She and Dave had danced together a few times during the party –or, had tried to, at least. Neither one of them was a very skilled dancer –a result of Dave simply not having a knack for it and Mindy never having taken the time to learn or the desire to practice it…as she had about a hundred more pressing things to practice in her chosen career. But still, it had been really nice when they'd danced to a slow song. Mindy figured they must have looked the sight –their poor dance moves…the great disparity in their height…etc. But to her, it was about the best part of the evening.<p>

Behind the bar, John Genovese saddled over to her and adopted the sympathetic poise of bartenders the world over.

"Have another?" He asked solicitously, indicating her almost empty glass.

"Please" Mindy replied.

John reached under the counter and produced a new can of Diet Coke along with a fresh glass with a slice of lime on the rim. "Can you handle it?" He teased affectionately.

"I'm not driving." Mindy retorted back with a smirk as she poured the beverage into her glass. Genovese chuckled and went back to loading up the dishwasher.

Mindy heard footsteps behind her and saw Alice coming over to her. From the doorway, Sting was pulling on his coat and waved a farewell to the remaining partygoers before removing some car keys from his pocket and exiting the premises.

"You're leaving?" She asked Alice.

"Yeah, he's just gone to warm up the car. I wanted to say goodnight to you."

"Thanks" Mindy said as she took another sip of her drink.

"No problem….So, have you gotten anywhere with him?" Alice said with an amazingly casual air.

"What?" Mindy asked as she nearly choked on her soda.

"Dave…Come on, it's painfully obvious that you like him."

"I don't…You can tell?" Mindy asked in a small voice, for once coming across as young as she actually was.

"Well, I'm not deaf, blind or an idiot; so yes I can." Alice said with a sisterly smile as she put her scarf around her neck and pulled her coat on.

"Ah…" Mindy started to say as she fought to come up with something to preserve her dignity. She was eternally thankful that Dave was putting some stuff away for John in the other room.

"Don't be embarrassed. You two are great together."

"We are?" Mindy said, as her eyes lit up.

"Totally"

"But he doesn't see me like that…" Mindy began to say.

"Excuse me? You two are supposed to be the best detectives in the group and you say something that dense?" Alice said with a disbelieving laugh. "First off, he checks you out all the time when you don't see him. Second of all, he's incredibly cute and single but you said he hasn't had any sort of real relationship since that girlfriend of his moved away? Instead, he spends about all his free time with you. Do you think that's a coincidence? Thirdly, I just see how much you too click together. Trust me…He's totally into you." Alice declared brightly.

"Are you sure?" Mindy asked in a quiet voice. Beneath her calm exterior, she was wild with emotion as she pondered the possibility that Dave could actually want her like that.

"Oh, I am." Alice chirped brightly. She looked out the window and saw Sting pull his BMW up in front of the bar. "Well, that's my ride. We're going back to his place for some playtime."

"Playing doctor?" Mindy asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Nope…Horny nurse meets a shipwrecked pirate." Alice said without missing a beat as she buttoned her coat. "See you later." She said to Mindy as she exited, with a wave to Todd and Angela.

Just then Todd and Angela came over to Mindy and announced they were leaving too.

"I'd better get home. Jessi will probably want to tell me all about her big date with Dillon." Angela said with a smile as she leaned into Todd contentedly.

"What're you going to tell her about your evening?" Todd asked as he put his arm around her.

"I don't know…It's not over yet." Angela said in a flirtatious tone.

"How am I doing?"

"So far, you're doing great." Angela said with a broad smile.

"Does that mean you might want to go see a movie tomorrow?" Todd asked, scarcely able to contain his pleasure.

"I think it guarantees it." Angela replied.

"Hey…I'm sitting right here, you know." Mindy spoke up sarcastically from the bar stool. Todd and Angela suddenly looked a shade guilty as they recalled they had not been alone for their flirtatious banter.

"Oh…sorry." Angela said sheepishly. Mindy sighed and shook her head.

"You'd better get home. I'll meet you and Jessi for lunch tomorrow?"

"I'll call you in the morning." Angela said as she gave Mindy a quick hug. Dave emerged from the back room just then in time to say his farewells to Todd and Angela.

"So, it looks like their first date went well." Dave said as he sat down on the barstool next to Mindy and poured himself a Coke Zero.

"Looks like" Mindy said in agreement as she began to ponder what Alice had told her.

* * *

><p>The bar was almost deserted. Dave and Mindy were helping John clean up and set the bar back to its normal configuration for its return to normal traffic the next day.<p>

"Another successful Christmas Party for Justice Forever." Dave declared as he deposited the tin foil catering trays in a large garbage bag.

"Yeah…I never know Biker Knight was such a fan of disco." Mindy said as she recalled the most reserved member of the group clearing the dance floor when the BeeGees were played.

"As the saying goes, still waters run deep." Dave said sagely. In actuality, he'd never seen anyone do disco like that outside of John Travolta in _Saturday Night Fever_. "You're meeting Angela and Jessi tomorrow for lunch?"

"Yeah, we want to get in some time together before Jessi heads back the day after tomorrow."

"It's a good thing we take time off now."

"It feels weird to do that."

"I know, but we can use the break and we'd be into the law of diminished returns if we didn't." Dave said. He was referring to a very simple fact about costumed crimefighters and the Christmas season. The fact was, what he and Mindy brought to the streets wasn't truly needed at that time of the year, as a rule. Aside from simply grabbing thugs, what he and Mindy did was they spread fear amongst the criminal underworld. They invoked a simple, animal fear that a criminal might turn around in the dark of the night and find Kick-Ass or Hit-Girl emerging out of the shadows about to launch him into a world of pain. The fear that they spread multiplied their effectiveness at least twenty times over. However, the sad truth was that –aside from the professional criminals and predators that they still dealt with- most of the lowlife element that would commit criminal acts at Christmastime were already scared. So, there was little that Dave and Mindy could do that would further deter them and allowed the police to handle those criminals.

As a result, Dave and Mindy –along with the rest of the Justice Forever personnel- scaled back their activities a great deal over Christmas. It allowed them to get a bit of a rest and have some social activities of their own. Mindy occasionally wondered what her father would think of them doing that. However, she had to admit that her father had never expressed an interest in using their heroic guises to protect the public at large and fight a general war on crime. He didn't seem to be able to see beyond his own personal revenge against Frank D'Amico.

"What's left?"

"We just have to take out the recycling and that's it." Dave said. He picked up two bags of empty cans and bottles, while Mindy picked up two bags of her own and they carried it out the back door the recycling bins.

As they came back in, Dave called downstairs to John that they were done and would be leaving soon. The owner –who was taking an inventory of his liquor stocks called back his thanks. Dave turned around and bumped into Mindy. She was staring up at the ceiling.

"What's the matter?"

Mindy just pointed up to the ceiling. Hanging there was a spring of mistletoe. Dave's breath caught in his throat as he felt Mindy's small hand brush against his.

* * *

><p>Todd and Angela broke apart from their kiss at her front door. Both of them were having a hard time speaking as they were both smiling so much.<p>

"So, does this mean we can go see a movie tomorrow?" Todd asked.

"Oh, you'd better believe it." Angela giggled as she gave him another quick kiss.

"Thanks"

"What're you thanking me for?"

"For wanting to go out with me."

"You make it amazingly easy." Angela said. "Now, you'd better get going before I drag you inside or something." Todd's eyes lit up at that. Angela laughed again. "Don't worry…I think I'll want to do that before too long." She gave him a final peck on the lips. "Drive home safe and call me tomorrow." She instructed with a smile as Todd waved and walked down the drive –nearly tripping over the flagstones as he was looking back at Angela on her front stoop- at her door- to his car.

Angela giggled her herself and opened her front door. She was on such a high from the fun evening and her first kiss with Todd that she didn't take note that she hadn't needed to use her key and her front door was already unlocked.

* * *

><p>"Mistletoe?" Dave noted as he looked up to the ceiling.<p>

"Yeah" Mindy replied, not taking her eyes off of it as she turned so that she was facing Dave.

"I wonder who put it up there?"

"To paraphrase Lisa Loeb, I don't know and I don't care." Mindy said quietly as she took Dave's hand in her own and leaned in very close against him.

"Funny how we didn't see it earlier tonight." Dave said.

"Yeah…But someone had to have taken the time and effort to have put it up."

"Looks like a lot of work." Dave said, even though it clearly wasn't.

"It's a shame to let it go to waste…don't you think?" Mindy said with a plaintive desire in her voice.

"It would be a sinful shame." Dave murmured as he was aware of how close Mindy was to him.

"We can't have that, can we?" Mindy said as she reached up and put her hand around Dave's face, drawing him down to her.

"No…We can't." Dave said as he bent down towards her as he reached around to the small of her back and pulled her close to him.

* * *

><p>Angela trotted happily upstairs to her room. The house downstairs was unoccupied. (Her mother had driven to Boston to pick her brother up from M.I.T. for the Christmas break, and was spending the night in Boston.) She'd have expected Jessi to be sitting in front of the television set, ready to tell her about how her first date with Dillon had gone. However, there was nobody there. That suited Angela fine. It would let her take a shower and get ready to tell Jessi all about her own evening. As she came to the door of her room, Angela's senses were telling her something was amiss…elements of the norm were out of place. However, she was sufficiently distracted by memories of her evening that she ignored them. It was only when she was opening the door to her room that she began to pay attention to the warning signals. By that time though, the door had opened and it was far too late.<p>

* * *

><p>Dave brought his head down low as Mindy stood up on her tiptoes. Hesitantly, their lips came together….<p>

* * *

><p>Angela's scream of shock pierced the silence of the Sullivan home.<p>

* * *

><p>Dave and Mindy's lips came together with desire mixed with anxiety. For a brief second, they both had to remind themselves that this was real and not a dream. They began to deepen the kiss…<p>

Then, a shrill noise split the air and the two jumped apart as is they'd been sleepwalking. They stared at each other for a second, just then Mindy thought to look for the source of the noise. It was her cell phone. She recognized the tone. It was Angela calling. She looked at Dave, trying to think of something good to say as she answered the call.

Before she could say anything, a scream met her ears forcing her to move it away from her head.

"Angela…what?" She tried to say into the receiver. "What…? I'm on my way!" Mindy said with a worried tone as she ended the call. She looked again at Dave.

"What's wrong?" Dave asked in a sort of shell-shocked tone. He was blown away by what just happened, and was now worried about what Angela could be calling about.

"I don't know, but she's freaking out about something. She said something about she had to run from her house!" A text message came through just then. Mindy read it. "She's going to meet me at the Starbucks at the end of her street."

"Do you need me to come?" Dave asked. He was not certain if that would be a good or a bad thing if he were to accompany her.

Mindy looked as equally perplexed; it was a rare event indeed that Mindy Macready was at a loss for either words or action. "I, uh, don't think so." Mindy said as she pulled on her coat and grabbed the bag that held her Hit-Girl costume. "You don't have your costume or anything, and I think I can handle it alone."

"Are you sure?" Dave asked as he took a step towards her.

"Yeah…Thanks though. I'll call you as soon as I know anything. OK?"

"Ok" Dave said as Mindy reached up awkwardly to give him a hug. Impulsively, she went to kiss him on the cheek. But Dave turned his head just then and she caught him on the lips. Mindy stepped down, now totally at a loss. She was about to say something, then decided to just smile and wave as she bolted out the door.

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later, Mindy burst through the door of the Starbucks at the end of Angela's street. Her friend's appearance caused her to stop short. Angela's face was pale and she was clutching her mug –of what Mindy desperately hoped was some sort of soothing tea- so hard her knuckles were white. As Angela saw her, she waved her over to the table desperately. The barrista behind the counter, who clearly was deriving some amusement at Angela's frazzled state, grinned at her partner as Mindy entered and joined the redhead.<p>

"Mindy…Thank God you're here!"

"What the fuck is wrong Angela?" Mindy asked with concern. When she and Todd had left the party, Angela had been calm and happy. Now, she was at about an eight out of ten on the freak-out scale. What had happened in the meantime?

"Todd drove me home…It was so nice…We kissed and he said he'd take me out tomorrow night…"

"And…" Mindy asked.

"The door was unlocked. I should've noticed that right away. I should've been on my guard. But I wasn't…"

"Someone was in your house?" Mindy asked. She was trying to figure this out. Angela routinely handled all sort of emergencies calmly and efficiently. What's more, if she'd found her own house had been broken into, Mindy knew Angela would be holding it together better than this. She was a crimefighter, after all. She was the nerve center for Justice Forever. If she'd come home to find intruders in her home, she well knew all she'd have to do is call 9-1-1...or just call a few friends from the team over, who'd be more than happy to help her deal with the soon-to-be really sorry prowlers.

Angela nodded with her green eyes wide. "It was Jessi."

"Jessi? But Jessi's staying with you. What's the big deal?"

"Dillon was there."

"So he brought her home? That was nice of him."

"NO! You don't understand! I saw the two of them…"

"You saw the two of them…?"

"I walked into my room and I saw the two of them…" Angela said as her voice trailed off.

"Huh?"

"I WALKED IN ON THEM FUCKING ON MY BED!" Angela practically screamed. Both pairs of barristas eyes shot over to them. Mindy shot them back an icy glare.

"Would you care to run that by me again, if you please?" Mindy sighed as she pinched her fingers over the bridge of her nose.

"I was going up to my room. I was going to shower and put my pajamas on. I thought that Jessi wasn't home yet from her date. I thought I'd wait up for her and then we could talk about what we each did."

"But instead of being told, you got a picture that was worth a thousand words?" Mindy asked with a chuckle.

"How about a billion words, and 'fuck' is about every third word." Angela said with a tone that indicated she had a hard time believing what she'd seen. "I mean, I just walked in and there they were…The two of them. They were totally naked…and all sweaty…and smiling. Holy shit Mindy, I've seen them naked!"

"Angela, I think you should lower your voice, or they'll ask us to leave." Mindy advised.

"No we won't." Said one of the barristas casually, as the pair was listening intently, clearly enjoying the free and unexpected entertainment they were being provided. Mindy just shot them another glare that could melt steel but that didn't seem to faze them in the slightest. She sighed and turned her attention back to Angela.

"Ok…That's not a big deal. We used to take phys-ed class with Jessi. We used the showers together. We've both seen her naked before."

"We saw her soaping up and rinsing! You didn't see her flat on her back…on MY sheets…all sweaty and touching herself, waiting for Dillon to stick his dick back into her!" Angela hissed. Before Mindy could respond, one of the barristas brought two mugs over. One he put in front of Angela and took her now empty mug. The other he put in front of Mindy, informing them it was on the house. Mindy sighed and decided they had to leave as soon as possible, if for no other reason than she didn't want to provide jerk-off material to the java jerks behind the counter. "Oh my fucking God…Mindy…I've seen Dillon's dick!"

Mindy idly thought to herself that was a sentence she never in her life thought would be said in any conversation she had with Angela. She palmed her forehead and motioned for Angela to continue. As far as she was concerned, their humiliation could not increase, so she might as well get it over with…It was like ripping off a band-aid…It was best to do it really fast.

"Look, I'm sure Dillon is freaked out about this as much as you are."

"Oh no, he's not. I walked in on them…And they were right in the middle of it. Dillon pulled out of her and they just both looked over at me…and smiled."

"They smiled?" Mindy asked. She wouldn't have expected that.

"They smiled. Dillon just turned towards me…and I saw everything. And it was like he was proud of it!"

"Say what now?"

"I think they were both even more turned on that I saw them. They just smiled…and they started doing it again. I mean, he put his dick right back into Jessi and started pumping…WHILE I WAS WATCHING!"

"Wow…" Mindy said as this was a shocker even for her. "It turned them on?"

"Yeah…I don't know how long they'd been going at it. It HAD to have been for hours. Oh my God…My room….My quilt was on the floor…It was stained with…I don't even want to imagine, but it looked like it was hardened into some sort of modern art sculpture. And my sheets…Holy shit, that was gross…I'm pretty sure it was Jessi's first time!"

"Whoa" Mindy said. There really wasn't anything else to say. Of all the things that she was expecting to find when she rushed over from the bar…This was definitely at the bottom of the list.

"Whoa is right! It was like I was caught in between a heartbeat. I wanted to run, but I couldn't turn my eyes away. It was like watching a car crash happen in front of me…a pornographic car crash! I couldn't even shut my eyes. I just watched Dillon have sex with Jessi right on my bed. I finally was able to turn and run when they looked at me, smiled and kind of whispered to each other after Dillon finished that time…I think they were about to ask me to join them!"

"Are you fucking serious?" Mindy asked, then after a pause added "Uh, pardon the expression." She said awkwardly.

"Yes, I'm serious. It was like the Dillon and Jessi we know were abducted by aliens and replaced by lookalikes from the Planet Porno."

"But Dillon's so sweet; so shy." Mindy said incredulously.

"You think I'm not surprised? Maybe his sweet and shy thing is just an act…Maybe he's suppressed that side of him for years and just was waiting for someone to unleash it." Angela said as her pupils seem to finally revert to their normal size. "What am I going to do tonight? They're not going to be finished anytime before morning, I don't think. And even if they were, I'm not touching a thing in there until I've steam cleaned everything."

Mindy had to laugh at that. "Come on" She said as she helped Angela to her feet. "You can stay over at my place tonight." As she guided Angela out the door.

* * *

><p>Sometime later, a much calmer Angela was sitting on the edge of Mindy's bed, clad only in her panties and a t-shirt. A shower and a late night snack had done wonders at calming her nerves. Just then Mindy came back into her room, dressed in her own t-shirt and sleep shorts, with her blonde hair wet from showering.<p>

"Feeling better?" She asked Angela.

"A lot" Angela replied. "Thanks for letting me stay over."

"What's a friend if not someone who offers you a night of sleeping on jizz-free sheets?"

"So, did anything happen after Todd and I left to deliver me to my borrowed den of iniquity?"

"Oh…Nothing much…" Mindy said with sudden and uncharacteristic hesitation. "Dave and I helped John straighten up…took out the recycling…kissed." Mindy said the last word in as small a voice as she could manage.

"Say what?" Angela squeed, her green eyes going wide.

"There was some mistletoe on the ceiling and we kind of, sort of, briefly….kissed." Mindy said.

"What happened then?" Angela asked breathlessly.

"I got a call from my other best friend who was in middle of a freak-out." Mindy replied in a deadpan tone of voice.

"Oh…I'm really sorry." Angela said, feeling terribly guilty. She'd been hoping that Dave and Mindy would finally do something about the fact they were so right for each other. They'd taken the first step…and then she'd inadvertently ruined it.

"You didn't know, and I've got to admit that it was pretty exceptional circumstances." Mindy said as the two slid into the bed.

"Yeah…Oh, Jessi sent me a text while you were in the shower."

"She found the time? Was Dillon taking a break to rehydrate or something?"

"Please don't repaint that picture…She said that she and Dillon would replace my quilt and sheets."

"They're that bad?"

"The sheets I was going to burn. The quilt could be cleaned, but I wouldn't be able to look at it again without thinking of them doing it. I don't think I could cover myself up to sleep with the quilt knowing that."

"I can understand that. So, I guess that means you'll have nice fresh sheets and and a quilt for when you and Todd can render them amazingly gross."

"Mindy!" Angela gasped as she giggled. What was ticking her off about this as much as anything else was the fact that it was her bed, and someone else was able to have sex in it before she could. Dammit, the girl who owned the bed should be first to be deflowered in it.

"So, we'll meet with Jessi and Dillon at the mall to do that before the three of us go to lunch."

"Do you think Jessi will be able to tear herself away from her new paramour?" Mindy asked facetiously.

"I don't know. I just hope they don't have pictures."

"Pictures?"

"This is Dillon we're talking about, and after that grin he had when I saw him and Jessi…I wouldn't discount it." Angela said as Mindy turned off the light.

"Was it good?" Angela asked after a minute.

"Was what good?"

"You and Dave…"

"Yeah…It was good." Mindy said with a dreamy sort of smile on her face. She was determined that her first kiss with Dave would not be their only kiss.

"Ok. I'm not going to be able to sleep for a while -or even shut my eyes without seeing Dillon grinning back at me..."

"You sure you won't be visualizing something else looking back at you?" Mindy interjected.

"Please stop reminding me." Angela laughed. "As I was saying...I won't be able to sleep for a while...So I want all the details of you and Dave tonight."

Mindy rolled over in the bed and faced her friend. She hadn't been planning on spilling all these details, but then she figured that if Angela could keep her being Hit-Girl a secret...This would be no big thing. "Ok...I was looking up and I saw the mistletoe..." She began. Mindy didn't take too long a time to reflect on how normal an event it was for two teenage girls to talk about boys they liked. She hoped her father would forgive her for her lapse into normalcy.

* * *

><p>That same evening, Jacob Jeremiah was on his way back to his cell from the evening meal at the Otis Bantum Correctional Centre on Riker's Island . Ever since his arrest that terrifying night where he'd encountered Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl, and subsequently surrendered himself to the police, he'd adjusted relatively well to being returned to custody.<p>

He had no idea how much longer he'd be here. He was surprised he was still at the city jail, to be honest. He would have thought that he would have been sent back upstate for having violated his parole –back to Wall Kill, or maybe to Sing Sing or Attica. Yet, he was still here in the city jail. Not that it made much difference to him: being in stir was being in stir. It was all pretty much the same. It was curious though.

"Jeremiah" A guard's yell interrupted his thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"Go and report to yard door, you're on a detail."

"Now?"

"No shithead, next Tuesday! Yes, fucking now." The guard blustered at him. As he'd confessed to selling drugs to school kids, Jacob B. Jeremiah tended to be rated very low on the jail's pecking order in terms of respect accorded him by other inmates. In fact, the only people who got less respect tended to be kept segregated in protective custody, for their own well being. The guards, not surprisingly, accorded him even less respect.

"Hey fine by me." Jeremiah mumbled to himself as he left the line of prisoners filing back to their cells and dormitories.

At the yard door, a guard was waiting for him. He unlocked the door and pointed to several empty dumpsters standing nearby.

"Jeremiah, move those dumpsters over to the loading dock."

Jeremiah wanted to ask why, as this was an utterly strange assignment. The yard was dark and deserted. The screws usually didn't let the cons out of the building at this time of night for that very reason. And this guard giving him the orders carried a reputation among the inmates as being pliable to any high bidder. But, there was no way he could refuse a relatively easy and safe work order…unless he wanted to go to the hole or something.

Jeremiah stepped out into the yard, positioned himself behind the empty dumpster and began to push it across the yard. It wasn't heavy or anything, so the task was easy. He was still wondering about why he was being given this assignment after the evening meal. As a rule, after the evening meal the only inmates not sent back to their cells or dormitories were the ones who worked in the kitchen and thus were engaged in clean-up.

After he had pushed the last dumpster into position, Jeremiah turned around, to head back to the door that would let him back into the main building. It was then that he heard footsteps. He assumed it was one of the hacks who patrolled the yard. That was all he needed –a turnkey who didn't get the word he was on a detail, thinking he was trying to bust out.

"I'm just moving the dumpsters. I was told to do it…" Jeremiah said as he turned around and realized that this person was not any guard.

Standing before him, pretty much looming over him, was a truly massive specimen of a man. He had to be at least 6'5 and a weight of upwards of 300 pounds. He was dressed in non-descript grey and brown clothing, rather than a correctional officer's uniform or the orange uniform of the inmates. His hair was closely trimmed, with the rest of his face clean-shaven. And he had perhaps the coldest eyes Jeremiah had ever seen, inside or outside of stir.

"Of course you were told to do it." The giant rumbled to him in a very deep voice. He's spoken in excellent English but had a definite accent. "Who told you to do it?" He asked, taking a step forward.

Jeremiah took a step backwards to compensate. This guy was scaring him. How the hell did he get into the yard? While built to keep people in, they were also supposed to keep people out as a rule. "A guard." He said with false bravado.

"Ah yes, a guard; you do what the guards tell you. Do you not?"

"What the fuck is it to you?"

"You think that this…place…is difficult. Perhaps to a weak American, such as yourself, it is. But I can tell you that there are far worse places than here. In the gulags, this would have been considered a place of luxury that the Tsars would have lived in, when compared to how we lived…and how many died."

"That so?" Jeremiah said, all bravado gone now. He was looking desperately around for a correctional officer.

"That is indeed so. I believe you've been told other things, by other people, have you not?"

"What're you talking about?"

"The person who supplied you with the drugs you were distributing. Did he not tell you that you were not to reveal who that person was?"

Jeremiah felt his legs go weak. He suddenly realized what was going on here. "But it was Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl. They…"

"They will not be of any accord in the fullness of time, comrade." The giant said with a shake of his huge head. As he did so, Jeremiah could see some sort of tube running into the back of his neck. What the fuck was up with this guy?

"Those two, and their colleagues, will soon be no more. That is why I have been brought to your country." The huge man said as casually as if he were reading a grocery list.

"Well hey, if you're looking to take out Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl, I know tons of people who'll help you. They've put half of the cons in here. Hey, I'll help you out if you'll get me out of here…"

"You?" The huge stranger broke into a deep laugh. "Your time on this planet is miniscule compared to that which they have. That is why I am here."

Jeremiah tried to scream for help, but the huge hand clamped over his mouth. At the same time, the man's other hand took a hold of his head…and twisted. Jacob Jeremiah's neck broke with a sickening crack. With casual aplomb, the large man tossed Jeremiah's dead body into one of the dumpsters and casually strolled back to the loading dock door that had been conveniently left open for him. As he exited, he heard the guard –the same one who'd admitted Jeremiah to the yard, locking it behind him.

Captain Victor Gigante sat in his unmarked Ford, sweating profusely despite the winter chill. Beside him was the creepiest man he'd ever met. He was tall and thin. There was wasn't a hair on his pale head and his eyes were hidden by thick pair of glasses that acted almost like mirrors.

"You are…nervous…Comrade Gigante?" The man spoke in a tone that sounded almost like a snake's hiss. Like his friend, this gaunt creepshow spoke excellent English, but with enough of an accent that one could tell it was his second language.

"What makes you say that…?"

"Nyet…You are scared."

"Oh yeah, what am I scared of?"

"Of us."

"No, I'm not."

"Oh yes…Oh yes, you are." The cadaverous man said in almost giggling way. "You are scared of us. You are a policeman, but your bourgeois greed makes you take money from the man who pays us. Yet, you do not have the courage to follow through on what you've taken his money to do. Perhaps you are thinking that we've been sent to kill you too?"

"No…" Gigante said, in an attempt to hide his fear. This creepy zombie would do it too, he suspected. And his friend…His friend could rip him in half like a telephone book. As if summoned, the huge form emerged from the shadows and opened the back door to fold himself into the back seat. The car sank on its springs as he did so.

"Is it…"

"It is done." The huge man replied.

"Comrade Gigante, you will drive us back to the city now." The cadaverous man said. It wasn't a question or a request. It was an order. Gigante was sweating. There was only one way on or off Riker's Island: The Francis Buono Bridge that led into Queens. All cars, he was sure, were watched on cameras…and he had been ordered to haul these two foreign psychopathic refugees from some horror movie to and from the jail. He should've said no…But he couldn't. Chris D'Amico was proving to be scarier than his father had ever been. Frank D'Amico had been utterly ruthless. But Chris D'Amico was revealing himself to be an insane sociopath. A perfect case in point was his importing these two madmen into the city.

"Perhaps we have made Comrade Gigante nervous, tovarich." The giant in the back seat said to his companion.

"Perhaps indeed; let me make amends, by properly introducing ourselves." He pointed a bony finger to himself. "You man address me as The Sickle. And he…is The Hammer."

Ten minutes after Gigante's car had exited off the Francis Buono Bridge –his badge had expedited his journey- Jacob Jeremiah was reported as overdue back at his cell for the evening count. The facility went into lockdown and the procedures for a possible escape went into place. It was two hours later that his dead body was discovered in the dumpster.

Although neither the police nor the heroes of Justice Forever had realized it yet; but The Hammer and The Sickle had claimed their first victim in New York City.


	10. Chapter 10

_Greetings dear readers. An infinite amount of apologies for the delay since the last chapter. However, I've had a great deal of computer problems of late. I finally would up having to have my entire machine wiped and reloaded. It's taken me a while to get everything working again._

_I'm sorry if you were hoping for more Dave/Mindy action in this chapter. However, I wanted something a little easier to get back into writing mode again. As well, I wanted something relatively short and easy - I did a Makokam on it - so I could get up in one evening. Thus, I decided to do The Hammer's backstory._

_I do hope everyone likes it. And yes, I admit that he's basically Bane mixed with Ivan Drago from _Rocky IV.

_If you like it, please review it. :-D_

_And awayyyy we go. :-)_

* * *

><p>Gigante drove nervously over the Francis Buono Bridge, connecting Riker's Island to the Borough of Queens. He was sweating profusely. In all of the years that he'd been working for the D'Amico organization, this was the furthest he'd ever put his neck on the line.<p>

To be sure, he'd done some risky things in that time. He'd tipped off D'Amico employees about impending raids. He'd steered patrols away from D'Amico drug houses. He'd helped make evidence disappear in time for court cases. Some fifteen years ago, he'd even framed a fellow cop. That, was his first act as a covert D'Amico employee and from that point there was truly no turning back. He'd willingly planted drugs in Damon Macready's apartment when that foolish idealist had turned down Frank D'Amico's offer of employment. To this day, he still recalled the intense look of hatred on Macready's face when he was handcuffed…and the devastated look on his wife's face.

But this…This was another category altogether. He'd just made himself an accessory to murder. Access to Riker's Island was very much controlled and monitored, for security reasons. And he was transporting the killer back to the city.

He stole a quick look at the immense man in his rear view mirror. He was sitting in the back seat, with an absolutely inscrutable expression on his face. Gigante knew that Chris D'Amico had brought the huge man who called himself The Hammer into New York City.

And the young D'Amico himself was proving to be dangerously unstable. He'd been like that since Frank's death over three and half years prior. Those were the good old days, Gigante thought. Back then it was just cops and robbers. It was all going so nicely. He was getting paid by the city to stop crime…and being paid even more by Frank D'Amico to let crime happen. But then, that Kick-Ass guy showed up. Gigante still recalled his first thoughts on seeing the now famous video of the donut shop swarming. He thought the costumed do-gooder was a freak; who was either going to fade away or get himself killed pretty soon. But…he didn't. Instead OTHER people suddenly started doing the same thing. Was New York City so far gone that every other asshole who couldn't score a date on a Saturday night thought that dressing up in a Halloween costume and going out to get into fistfights was a positive expenditure of time?

Yeah, Gigante figured that the so-called "heroes" would fade away soon enough. But then something really weird happened…They started to get things done. Pretty soon, Frank D'Amico's organization was being dismantled by who he thought was Kick-Ass and a big guy who was wearing a costume that looked like Batman's. That was when Chris D'Amico came up with his own idea for a costume to lure the suddenly threatening heroes into a trap. When all was said and done though, it didn't work…on a pretty spectacular scale. Before he knew it Frank D'Amico was dead –blown out of the window of his penthouse by Kick-Ass who shot him with a bazooka (A fucking bazooka!). Kick-Ass faded away for a few months, but then came back partnered up with a young girl who wore purple, apparently had legions of internet fans…and was about the most feared person in the city for all of New York City's criminal underworld. She was called Hit-Girl and from that moment on it all went to hell. Now, the criminals were being dismantled and the cops were often being sidelined. To make it worse, some cops were even working with the costumed nuts. The kooks got information in exchange for allowing the cops to take official credit for the busts.

And Chris D'Amico seemed to have gone off the deep end too. He'd taken to wearing a costume all the time and was genuinely scary to him now. As further proof, he'd brought these two psychos into the city to work for him. Gigante shuddered. He wondered where the hell these two freaks were dug up from.

In the back seat, The Hammer –he had no other name- looked out at the city he'd been brought to. The person who employed him –the thin Italian-American with the irritating voice- thought he was in control of him. The Hammer would allow that fiction to persist. When the time was right though, the true master would assert himself. New York City, he thought, was vast…and decadent. When he became its master, he would show these Americans the error of their ways.

It was a long way from where he'd come…A long, long way.

_The Hammers first memories were of grey. He was born into a world of grey. He was born in the Gulags of Siberia. His parents had been part of a wildly unsuccessful coup against the government…against the State. His father had been killed by the guards. His mother had died giving birth to him. He was born into a grey world and left alone in it._

_The Russian government had decreed that since his parents had robbed the state of a lifetime of penal servitude to them, their offspring would pay their debt. The Hammer –although he did not yet have that name. Then, he was only known by his prison number- would serve the life sentences they'd each been given._

_He spent his first years in the Gulag's infirmary –it was a horrid place, but tame compared to the rest of the institution. The commandant viewed himself as an enlightened "New Soviet Man" and felt this was showing proper mercy to the child. The boy grew up watching the savagery as the inmates fought one another and killed one another for any number of reasons –for survival, for dominance within the Gulag's confines, over sexual favours, sometimes simply because there wasn't anything better to do. For the boy, this was all he knew and it didn't scare him as he knew nothing else. He thought this was how the entire human race existed. He was an astute student of his world. He watched…and he learned._

_When he was seven years old, he was put into the general population. The guards who escorted him in made wagers amongst themselves as to how long the boy would last before one of the other savages had him and made him into a sexual toy, or simply killed him as a way to pass the time on a winter's night._

_On his first night, someone whispered to him. It was a revolting looking man who introduced himself Sergei. Sergei looked at him with a leering smile. He said that tomorrow, they would become much better friends. The boy knew what that meant. He'd seen what some of the inmates did together when they thought nobody was watching (or at least, nobody who cared or would interfere). He knew that was what the man wanted from him. He also knew that sometimes one of the men who did that, didn't enjoy it. He was forced into it and was sometimes beaten…sometimes killed. The boy had a feeling that Sergei wouldn't take no for an answer. He then saw, on the floor, a board that was cracked. The idea came to him naturally._

_The next day, as they prisoners lined up for their meagre breakfasts Sergei –who was a notoriously brutal rapist within the Gulag- shoved his way through the line to stand behind the boy. He crouched down over him._

"_So, my little one, as I said, today we're going to become frie…" Sergei's words were cut off by a strangled gasp as blood came from his mouth. The boy removed the jagged piece of splintered wood from Sergei's jugular vein, unleashing a torrent of blood. Sergei sank to his knees, putting him at eye level with the boy. The boy calmly drew his arm back and rammed the bloodied splinter into Sergei's right eye and drove it in until he'd pierced the brain. Sergei's last words were an unintelligible scream of pain._

"_I don't want to be friends with you." The boy said wryly as he began to eat his breakfast as the stunned guards finally made their way over._

_Sergei was hated amongst the prisoners but a favourite of the commandant as he was a particularly useful informant. It was that fact that allowed the man to thrive as such a predator. To see his most useful man slain like that upset the commandant greatly. He briefly considered having the boy shot, but the _glasnost _phenomenon was beginning and there might be questions. Instead he had the boy thrown into solitary, vowing that he would have to shave before he saw the sky again._

_The commandant had hoped that the boy would be forgotten then. But he'd underestimated how hated Sergei was…and thus, how popular his killer was. And the fact that it was a boy made him all the more legendary. The solitary cells were not patrolled much. So, prisoners who worked there as orderlies made a point to talk to the boy. A few –taking advantage of the lack of supervision- taught him to read. The boy proved to be highly intelligent and picked it up quickly. From that point on, books were smuggled to him that he devoured –he got to a point where he would read a book a day and retain almost all that he'd read. He built up his body too. He'd watched men exercise –those not worn down by the physical labour they were forced to do- and he emulated them. Every day he disciplined himself to go through his routines. Push-ups, sit-up, pull-ups from a pipe…he did them all. Eventually he worked his way up to a thousand push-ups, a thousand sit-ups and a thousand pull-ups a day. _

_The commandant –after more than ten years- finally realized the boy (who was no longer a boy, naturally) would not give in and die. So, he had him released back into the general population. His hope was that someone would kill the boy in exchange for some favours from the administration. He didn't realize that ten years in solitary –after killing the hated Sergei- had made the boy a hero amongst the prisoners. Still, there were some who did try to kill him in exchange for a promise of freedom. Thirty-two men in all tried to kill the boy over a fourteen month period. The boy killed all thirty-two of them with either his bare hands or crudely fashioned weapons that he'd taken from his would-be assassin._

_One day, the commandant was giving a tour of the facility to an official from Moscow. They happened upon the boy as he was finishing off the thirty-third would-be assassin. This one, the boy finished off with a punch that came down and smashed the man's head against a table, breaking the neck. _

"_Him!" The official screamed. "We can use him!" The official, as it turned out, was part of a committee scouting talent for the next Olympic boxing team. The commandant had no way to refuse the order…and truth be told was glad to be rid of the boy, as his body count was starting to become untenable. _

_At the training camp he was removed to, he was free of the Gulag for the first time in his life. It was still a restricted place as that was how athletes were trained there in that nation -segregated and under guard. On his first day, he sparred with someone and devastated his opponent. It was then that someone yelled from the sidelines "He hits like a hammer!" And thus he was finally given a name._

_It was there that he met The Sickle. The latter was a chemist brought in to chemically ensure victory. His nickname came from his reaper-like appearance, as well as the fact he would willingly test lethal concoctions on subjects. It was said he cut people down like a sickle going through grass. He took a look at The Hammer –his name was now official- and decided that he was the perfect subject. He'd concocted a super-steroid, more elaborate and potent than anything else anywhere in the world. Other subjects had been unable to handle it. The Hammer would prove perfect though. It boosted his strength to amazing lengths. The trainers were pleased. He would be set for an exhibition bout with a former American professional champion in a month's time._

_The next month, The Hammer took regular injections and trained relentlessly –even hitting at speed bags placed around a running track at regular intervals. He was deemed ready._

_On the day of the fight, The Hammer felt the actual match would be little more than a formality. He towered over the American –a much shorter, but very tough Italian-American from Philadelphia who wore ridiculous shorts patterned after the American flag. Then the fight began…and something went wrong. No matter how hard The Hammer hit him, the American refused to stay down when hit…and hit back hard on his own. In the later rounds, something even more alarming took place: the steroid began to wear off. The Hammer felt his strength drain down to regular levels. In addition, the American had the momentum –even the Russian crowd was chanting his name. The Hammer was beaten by a knock-out in the final round._

_Afterwards, The Sickle determined that his steroid had a weakness –it was burned off by adrenalin and lactic acid; two things that a body would produce in a fight. He came up with a device that fed the steroid right into The Hammer's neck through some tubes attached to a small pump on his belt. By that time though, the secret police arrived to arrest them for humiliating the state. The Hammer decided it was time to test his new steroid delivery system. He easily snapped the agents' necks and he and The Sickle disappeared into the Moscow underground._

_The next ten years found the two rising to the top of the Moscow underground. The Sickle's genius with developing narcotics and The Hammer's strength and strategic genius made them a formidable combination._

_One business travel found them in the Russian Far East, when a very muscular woman approached them. She said that her employer –a man known as The Master wished to retain their services. They were brought to an old monastery where a thin, inscrutable looking man sat on a raised chair. He had several book around him that was printed in what The Hammer recognized as Chinese and the man himself appeared to be from that country as well._

"_Greetings. I am known as The Master. We have been following your exploits." He said in flawless Russian. "We feel you would be a great addition to our society?"_

"_Society?" Rumbled The Hammer. (In the years they'd worked together, he'd segued into doing the talking for the two of them as his deep voice was more imposing.)_

"_Yes, our little society. We are The League of Killers. It is a most ancient group and our exploits are known even if we are not. Why, in the seventeenth century, we burned London to the ground!" The Master declared proudly. "Our hands are in almost all criminal enterprises in the world and I can assure you that your work would be well rewarded."_

_From that point on, The Hammer and The Sickle became the most respected and feared members of The League of Killers. Their work took them around the world many times. The Hammer mastered at least five languages in that period_

_The two of them were in South America, engaged in a more hostile than usual takeover of the cocaine operations when they received a summons. The woman who recruited them –who was now working as a bodyguard for an American mobster in New York City and known as Mother Russia- contacted them and said their services were needed. They were to deal that most interesting phenomenon that had emerged in the last few years –the advent of costumed crimefighters. Apparently they were needed against a most resourceful and successful duo known as Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl. But, to start with, the man who revealed information to them had to be dealt with…which The Hammer did. Now, this American policeman was driving them back to their current employer._

Yes, The Hammer thought as he looked out on the city, he would enjoy running this place. But first, he would have to deal with these bothersome heroes in the strange clothing. He would study them as he studied the men in the Gulags He would study their strengths and discern their weaknesses…Then he would destroy Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl for this madman D'Amico.


	11. Chapter 11

_Greetings dear readers._

_Well, I saw _Kick-Ass 2_, and it definitely inspired me to write this new chapter and get it up as soon as I possibly could. I thought it was an awesome movie and a definite improvement on the source material comic. I guess it fulfilled the main job of the second film in a series in that it definitely left me wanting to see a third movie._

_As well, I see I've acquired quite a few new readers in the last week or so. To those of you who are new, let me say welcome to my fic-verse. I hope you enjoy my stories for _Kick-Ass_ and may also peruse my takes on _Let Me In _and _Dark Shadows. _(FYI, in my main fic-verse, the worlds of _Kick-Ass_, _Let Me In _and _Dark Shadows_ all co-exist. Thus, Mindy is a distant blood relative of both Abby and Carolyn.) _

_I'm also toying with a _Kick-Ass_/_Dark Shadows _Crossover that's an AU to both my regular Kick-Ass and _Dark Shadows _fic-verses_ _and will directly follow _Kick-Ass 2_._

_Sorry there's not a lot of action in this chapter. This one is strictly to move the Dave/Mindy plot forward. I hope nobody minds._

_As my regular readers now and as a gentle plea to my new readers...I just LOVE reviews. It makes me update sooner. :-)_

_And awayyyyy we go. :-D_

* * *

><p>Two combatants glared death at one another as they spewed profanities back and forth across the combat zone. Then, the overweight man in a bowling league jacket, with gelled hair and an (artificial) orange tan lunged at the other. His opponent, a man with a leather jacket and mullet, clocked him on the side of his jaw as the orange-skinned man's fist collided with his own face. The first blows exchanged, the two men began to swing wildly at each other, falling to the ground and rolling in the parking space that both had been trying to park in and which had instigated the fight.<p>

Standing at the sides watching, the spouses of the two combatants watched…and cheered. As they trash talked the other's husband, words soon they began to trash talk each other. Inevitably, the two women began to exchange pushes…which rapidly escalated. Soon, the two women –both of whom were skinny, wore high heels and had big hair- were grappling on the ground beside their menfolk.

Inside the two minivans that had converged on the one parking space and sparked the ongoing war –one that had New York plates, the other (belonging from the orange-skinned pugilist) from New Jersey- two small children strapped into their car seats looked across at one another with confusion.

Walking across the parking lot from the bus stop, Mindy and Angela paused to look at the scene before them.

"Peace on earth and goodwill to all, Angela." Mindy said with a sarcastic roll of her eyes.

"Why do people try and actually park at a mall right before Christmas?" Angela pondered. The parking lot was packed with Christmas shoppers and more people were lined up on the streets leading to the parking lot entrances. She and Mindy had never considered anything other than public transportation to get them there. (Mindy hated city buses, but conceded it was better than trying to deal with the lunacy of Christmas parkers.)

"Short answer: I don't know. Slightly longer answer: please observe that these people are clearly not in the running for _magna cum laude_."

Angela looked over at the two cars. "It looks like one of them is from New Jersey."

"Well, that explains at least half of it."

"Definitely." Angela agreed. In the past, Justice Forever had occasionally been forced to co-ordinate with the costumed crimefighters from Hoboken. It was a great shock to see that their version of a costume was simply a wearing a mask and going out in their night club clothing. "Should we try and help?"

Mindy gave her best female friend an 'are you fucking kidding me?!' look. "Let me think about that…no." Mindy said definitively. "Besides, here come those trained and paid to deal with such intellectual heavyweights." The small, blonde girl said as she pointed to where several mall security guards –some on Segues and some on foot were converging on the fight and set about breaking it up.

"Ah well…There goes our entertainment." Mindy said as the two friends resumed walking towards the mall entrance.

"Where are we meeting them again?" Angela asked. Mindy pulled her iPhone from her belt and looked at the text message. "In front of the Starbucks by the fountain."

"Is that THE fountain?" Angela teased.

Mindy rolled her eyes. "Yes, it's THE fountain, thank you very fucking much. I'm still trying to live that down."

"What else could you have done?"

"I don't know. I mean…I could've done…SOMETHING. Instead, I had to jump for my life and wound up taking a swim." Mindy sighed as she recounted her narrow escape from a wild posse of an armed Santa and his elves two years before. It was during their first big case, The Santa Claus Strangler. It was the successful conclusion to that case which announced to the city and the world that Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl operated on a level above most of the other costumed crimefighters.

"Dave saw it all, didn't he?" Angela asked as they walked in and maneuvered through the throngs of Christmas shoppers.

"Oh hell yeah, he was knocking his way through the crowd like you wouldn't believe. He looked like he should be on the Jets." Mindy recalled. "I remember when I surfaced and pushed my hair out of my face, he was the first thing I saw. You should've seen his face. He saw me and it was like the weight of the world came off of his shoulders." Mindy said with a faint smile on her face.

"He was worried about you." Angela noted to her friend.

"Yeah…I remember I was surprised how concerned he was."

"Why would you be surprised?"

"I don't know. Katie had just moved away and he'd been moaning in anticipation of that since the summer, and…"

"And what? Katie leaving wouldn't make a difference. You two were already pretty much inseparable. Why would you think he wouldn't be petrified of something happening to you? It's funny Mindy, you have all the confidence in the world in just about everything else, but when it comes to Dave you always sell yourself short." Angela said sagely to her best friend. The two of them had talked a long while before going to sleep the night before as Angela wound down from walking in on Jessi and Dillon having sweaty, raunchy sex in her bed. Mindy had told her about the kiss she and Dave had shared after the Justice Forever party wound down…which led to her telling Angela all about her feelings for Dave. "Why do you do that?"

Mindy gave her a sideways glance and shrugged. "I don't know. I guess…I guess I'm afraid he still sees me as the little kid I was when we first met. Or, maybe we've been so close –I mean his dad, his grandparents, they all treat me like I'm a part of the family- that he looks at me like I'm his little sister or something."

"Well, just my two cents worth, but I'm pretty sure when he kissed you he wasn't seeing a little girl." Angela said. "And the same goes for last summer." She added.

"What about last summer?"

"Remember whenever we went to a pool or the beach? Dave's jaw was on the ground every single time he looked at you in your bikini."

Mindy's eyes brightened. "It was?"

"Oh yeah. He looked like he wanted to yank it off of you and take you right there like he was David Hasselhoff or something."

"He did?" Mindy asked, unable to keep the giddiness from her voice.

"You didn't notice? Wow, I hope you're more observant the rest of the time Angela teased, while taking care not to say too much in public. "I guess you also didn't notice that a whole bunch of other guys were staring at us?"

"Oh, that I noticed. Well, we both looked pretty damned hot, didn't we?"

"Totally…But did you see the look Dave gave them? He looked like he wanted to rip them all apart for checking you out."

"He did?" Mindy said, well aware she was sounding like one of the vapid girls she always loathed. The thought of Dave checking her out, being territorial around her and possibly doing an ass-kicking on someone was a triple-play turn-on for her.

"Mindy…I know how good you are at a whole ton of stuff, but this is really your blind spot. Dave's in love with you." Mindy started to say something, but Angela plowed on through. "Trust me, he is."

"Angela…Not that I'm upset or complaining, or anything…But why're you telling me all this?" Mindy asked. Her red-haired friend smiled gently at her.

"You're my best friend. Does there have to be any other reason?"

Mindy smiled and mentally decided that befriending Angela ranked second only to becoming partners with Dave in terms of wise decisions she'd made in her life.

* * *

><p>Casimir Lizewski descended the steps to the basement of his home…or what his son and Mindy called "The Lair". (As proud as he was of what they did, he did have to shake his head at their love for needless theatrics.) As expected, he found Dave doing one-armed chin-ups. After counting off more than he himself had ever done –and that was even going back to his days as an Army Ranger- Caz watched his son let go of the bar and drop to the floor.<p>

"Bravo, son." Casimir said, attracting Dave's attention.

"Thanks Dad." Dave gasped as he took a drink from his water bottle.

"I brought this down." Caz replied, handing Dave a glass full of protein drink. Dave nodded his thanks and drank it down.

"You're working out early today. Don't you usually wait until Mindy's here?"

"She's gone shopping with Angela this morning. Besides, I wasn't really working out."

"My, you could have fooled me."

"I mean, this wasn't anything strenuous."

"It looked strenuous to me."

"I just wanted something to do this morning."

"Here's a novel idea: why didn't you stay in bed and gotten some more sleep?"

"I didn't feel like sleeping."

"You need your sleep. You have to be rested for what you do. You could get hurt."

"Don't you read what's posted online? Kick-Ass doesn't feel pain." Dave said with a wry grin.

"Well, Kick-Ass' father does get worried that his son is wearing himself out and not eating. Go take a shower and come to the table. I've got some breakfast on." Casimir commanded.

Ten minutes later, after a quick shower, Dave sat down at the kitchen table and tucked into the high-protein breakfast that was his morning staple. His attention was divided to his iPhone as he looked over the news he'd received earlier that morning. His father sighed in mild exasperation.

"Is there something of extreme interest in the news this morning?"

"Hmm? Oh…Yeah…A source Mindy and I have in the Corrections Department let me know that Jacob Jeremiah was murdered out on Riker's Island last night."

Caz took a sip of his coffee and then looked at his son. "Not to lessen the loss of human life, but how is that of significance?"

"He was a low-level drug dealer Mindy and I caught a week or two ago up in the Bronx. He gave us some information that led us to the meth lab we busted a couple of nights later in Coney Island."

"And you doubtless believe the two are connected?" Caz said in a dry manner.

"I don't believe in coincidence anymore." Dave acknowledged.

"Jails are rough places. What was the actual charge he was in on?"

"Parole violation and selling drugs…to school kids at that."

"Didn't Marcus say once that people who prey on children or get them hooked on drugs tend to be very low in the jailhouse pecking order? He could've been killed by another inmate there."

"That was my first thought. But, our source gave me two bits of further information that disproves that. First, it happened last night, after dinner in the yard. It was when almost all the cons there were either back in their cells or dormitories for the evening count or being supervised somewhere. Nobody had the opportunity. Secondly, most jail killings are done with homemade weapons –a shiv, a homemade garrote…stuff like that. Jeremiah wasn't killed that way. His neck was broken. In fact, his head was twisted almost around."

Casimir pondered those words. "When I was in the Rangers, we were taught how to snap necks if we had to. It's not quite as easy as the movies make it out to be. And to have the head twisted like that, it'd have to be someone really strong."

"That's what I was thinking."

"And the place has significance?"

"It was out in the yard, away from anyone. He was sent out there on a work detail after the evening meal and was never seen alive again. When he didn't report back they actually thought it was an escape attempt until they found his body. All the cons were supposedly accounted for, as were all the correctional officers."

"Which means…?"

"Which means that somehow, someone got into the yard, snapped Jeremiah's neck and got out again without being seen."

"You think it was an inside job somehow?"

"Oh, I know it's an inside job."

"My, what's happened to the local authorities? Maybe ordinary citizens will start putting on masks and start undertaking vigilante justice…Oh wait." Casimir said with dripping sarcasm. "It sounds to me like getting to the bottom of this will be a tough job."

"Yeah. It's going to be a tough job.

"So…naturally not getting enough sleep and working out past the point of exhaustion is a sure and certain way to get positive results." Caz said without looking up from the sports section of his morning paper.

"Dad…"

"I'm just trying to keep you healthy, son." Casimir said with an innocent look. "One thing though…."

"Yeah?"

"You heard about this Jeremiah guy this morning?"

"That's right."

"Then why were you up last night? I heard you pacing around, then you went down to the basement and worked the punching bag for a time…and then turned on the television. You couldn't sleep for some reason?"

"Yeah" Dave said hesitantly.

"Mind if I ask why?"

"The party last night." Dave said quietly.

"The Justice Forever Christmas party?"

"That's the one."

"What happened? Did anything go wrong?

"No…Nothing went wrong. Everything went right…really right."

"Then why the midnight prowling? You usually only do that when you're out of the house with Mindy." Dave's eyebrows shot up at the mention of Mindy's name. His father noticed and was not unduly surprised. "Ah, was it something to do with Mindy?"

"How did you…"

"I'm your father. Give me a little credit, will you?"

Dave sighed and decided he had nothing to lose by opening up. "We stayed after everyone left to help tidy the bar up. There was some mistletoe up. One thing led to another…and we…kissed."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"I don't know. It wasn't bad at all. It's just that…"

"Just that what?"

"Well, I've been thinking about Mindy a lot lately."

"That's not surprising. You two are really close."

"Yeah, but that's part of it. We're close, but I think I want to be…closer…to her."

"What do you mean?" Casimir asked, even though he knew full well what his son meant.

"I want…I want to be more than friends with her."

"You want have a romantic relationship with her?" Caz said, fighting to keep the smile off of his face.

"Yes." Dave finally admitted.

"Well, why were you so nervous then?"

"Because…"

"Because why?" Caz said, fighting exasperation. It was almost like Dave was a child again.

"Because I'm just setting myself up to get hurt. She doesn't think of me that way. She'd never want that with me."

"Uh…huh. Hold on a second." Casimir said as he rolled up his sports section. "Hold on…and…there!" He said as he lightly thwacked Dave over the head with the rolled up newspaper section.

"Did you get the fly?'

"There wasn't one! I was trying to knock some sense into you!" Casimir said in an exasperated tone.

"Huh?"

"For such a smart kid who's apparently capable of outwitting every criminal in New York City, you are really dense about this. You actually think Mindy doesn't feel that way about you?"

"You mean she does?" Dave said, unable to keep the hope out of his voice.

"Of for the love of…" Caz sighed. He began again. "Mindy's pretty popular at school, isn't she?"

"Yeah…I mean, she doesn't have a big crowd of friends but…"

"But most of the guys think she's attractive…she's smart."

"Of course they do." Dave said. He'd heard Mindy and Angela discussing what went on at his alma mater pretty regularly.

"And does she ever get asked out?"

"All the time."

"Has she ever gone out with anyone?"

"No."

"Why do you think that is?"

"Well, her free time is for training and patrolling and…"

"Come on…Even Spider-Man went on dates from time to time. Yet, Mindy's free time is spent with you."

"Not all of it."

"Not all of it? Are you serious?"

"You're not kidding me, are you?"

"Am I kidding…" Caz grumbled to himself.

"Her not going on dates doesn't prove anything."

"Why don't you go on more dates?"

"Huh?"

"You're in college. You're in great shape. You have tons of self-confidence...in most areas. You can't tell me girls don't notice you."

"Well, they kind of do…"

"Then why don't you go out with them?"

"It's complicated."

"How's it complicated? You've been single since Katie moved away. How come you haven't done any serious dating?"

"I dated that girl from Justice Forever?"

"Which one? That one called Night Whore?"

"Night Bitch."

"Really?" Mused Caz. He'd never met her and remembered that Mindy had referred to her as only 'Night Whore' and was in a most foul mood the whole time Dave's sexcapades with her were ongoing. "But no matter, what she was called. It wasn't exactly a deep relationship, was it? Did you two ever see each other out of your costumes? Did you ever do anything together…besides the obvious?"

"Not really." Dave admitted.

"So, you haven't tried to have a serious relationship with anyone. Why is that?"

"Because…Because of Mindy. Everytime a girl talks to me I just compare her to Mindy. And they just don't equal up." Dave admitted with a sigh. "I don't want to get involved with someone when I know going in, she's not the girl I really want."

"Ah, progress. Ok, so what makes you think that Mindy doesn't feel the same way and that's why she doesn't go out with anyone?" Casimir asked his son. "Let's move on to some more proof then." Casimir said as he walked over to the fridge and opened the door. He pulled out a Styrofoam meat package. "What's this, Dave?"

"Liver."

"Yes. Do you ever eat it?"

"No."

"Neither do I; but we both know that Mindy loves it. That's why we have it in our fridge. In fact, it's the two of you who do the grocery shopping for us most of the time and who buy it." The elder Lizewski reminded his son. He strode over to the laundry basket on the floor and dug through the clean clothes.

"Exhibit 'B'" Casimir said, as he held up a small, purple 'Hello Kitty' tank top. "Now, neither of us wear this. And there's other items in there that I won't manhandle, but suffice it to say you or I don't wear."

"Yeah" Dave said as he wondered where his dad was going with this. "So, Mindy keeps food she likes here and clean clothes here. I've got some stuff at her place too."

"Exactly my point. And the final piece of evidence…Those certain feminine items in the bathroom cupboard that we both make a point of ignoring….Son, when a girl leaves tampons at a guy's house, she's staking her territory. Don't you see? This is like home to her too. So far as I'm concerned, she's already family. You too are already a couple except for the fact that neither of you has acknowledged it; or really done anything about it until last night."

Dave sat at the table as he absorbed his father's words. His mind flashed over the years that he'd known Mindy…Especially the last two when he realized his feelings had started to develop beyond friendship for her: them throwing civilian clothes over their costumes and going right from patrol to see a midnight screening of a movie; having a heated argument with her over the merits of a comic book that could last for hours until one of them finally broke; the times when a patrol lasted until dawn and they'd watch the sun come up together before going to get breakfast at Denny's; the nights when she slept over and she would snuggle against him. These were, to Dave, the happiest moments of his life because they were the time they had together. He had never looked elsewhere because being with her like that made him happy even if he wanted more. It was all clear to him now that she'd felt the same way. It was so ludicrous, he almost laughed. Almost, but not quite…He scrolled down his text messages again.

"She's at the mall."

"Pardon?"

"Mindy…She and Angela went to the mall this morning; something about Angela needing new sheets…" Dave trailed off as he read the text. He idly thought he wanted to get the full story on that. But, there was a higher priority now. "They should still be there." Dave said as he checked his watch and texted Mindy back.

"Dad, can I borrow the car?"

"Sorry, I'm working early today because I have a Knights of Columbus meeting tonight." Casimir said sympathetically. "Oh, we're planning the Council's New Year's Eve Party…You should bring Mindy as your date." Caz said with a smile, as he was proud that he'd convinced Dave to become the third Lizewski male in as many generations to join the Knights of Columbus.

"I'll ask her." Dave said as he dashed to the closet to get his coat. "How do I get to the mall fast?" He muttered to himself.

"You could take Mindy's Ducati." Casimir said, in reference to Mindy's tricked out, purple motorcycle that was temporarily locked away in the Lizewski garage while Marcus repaired a leaking garage roof at his place.

"In the daylight and on our street Dad? Not very subtle."

"The Mistmobile then…Much more subtle." Casimir said as he drank off his coffee.

"It would take too long to get it from the garage." Dave said as he completely missed his father's sarcasm.

"Hold on…I'll drop you by the mall on my way to work." Casimir said as he carried his dishes over to the sink.

"Thanks Dad."

"It's alright…You just go and find Mindy and tell her what you should've told her a long time ago." Casimir said. "Son, she's one in a million. Don't ever forget that."

"Never." Dave promised as he pulled on his jacket.

* * *

><p>At the mall, Mindy and Angela were milling about, killing time while they awaited Dillon and Jessi. The latter two had texted Angela that morning offering to go out with her and replace the sheets they'd rendered unfit for further human contact and take her quilt to a dry cleaner for a thorough steam cleaning.<p>

"I wonder what's keeping them." Angela said, looking at her wristwatch.

"Maybe they have a hard time walking." Mindy smirked.

"Ew. Don't remind me. I'm going to have to move my bedroom furniture around so it'll look different. Otherwise, I'm always going to have a flashback to last night, every time I go into my bedroom." Angela grimaced.

Mindy started to laugh and say something when both girls felt a hand go their shoulders and a husky male voice chortled "Ladies…"

It was the last thing the speaker said prior to a yelp of pain as Angela drove her elbow into the stranger's solar plexus, while Mindy instinctively shot her forearm back into the person's throat –she judged the height from where the voice came from- while grabbing his wrist in a lock and forcing him to his knees.

"Word of advice, fucktard…" Mindy began, then she let go of the wrist and squealed "Marty!"

On one knee, trying to catch his breath while gritting his teeth against pain, was Marty Eisenberg.

"Hi…" He was finally able to gasp as Mindy and Angela each took an arm and hauled him to his feet.

"Marty, what're you doing here?" Mindy asked as she gave her longtime friend a hug.

"I texted Todd about getting together to hang out. He said he couldn't make it, but you two were heading for the mall and maybe I could find you two and chill a bit with you. I didn't expect lethal force."

"Don't sneak up on us then and we won't plant you into the ground." Mindy laughed.

"Geez. Taken out by a couple of high school girls." Marty moaned in fake indignation. "My studly reputation is shot."

"Oh, take your tampon out." Mindy sighed as Angela broke down laughing.

"How's Washington?" Angela asked.

"It's…different. I miss New York though. Let me tell you, if you think the crime here is bad, you should come on down to D.C. It's a fucking asylum at times."

"They don't have any heroes?" Mindy asked quietly.

"Not really. At least nothing like Justice Forever. Maybe everyone's afraid of getting the Secret Service paranoid, or something."

"So, Battle Guy hasn't been seen?"

"Not at all. Without a good team, Battle Guy would soon be Dead Guy, or Intensive Care Guy."

"That's a fucking shame."

"Eh, I'm moving back when I graduate, so it's no big thing…But I know what is." Marty crowed as he looked at Angela. "Congratulations to my favourite red-head. I hear you've made a semi-honest man out of my boy Todd."

Angela giggled with happy embarrassment. "He told you?"

"He couldn't wait to tell me. The guy is on Cloud Eleven! Congratulations! I've never seen Todd as happy." Marty cheerfully informed her. "So, are the two of you here for a celebratory trip to a shoe store? Or just going for some facials or something?" He teased as Mindy rolled her eyes at him.

"Do I look like someone's pointing a gun at my head? We're meeting Dillon and Jessi. Do you remember them?"

"Yeah….Jessi's your old friend right?" Marty asked Angela who nodded. "Thin with dark hair and C-cups, right?"

"That's right." Angela replied.

"And Dillon…Aw yeah, I remember him. Really shy…awkward…had a crush on Mindy once but was too shy to really do anything about it? Yeah, I remember him. He was a cute kid. Did he ever get over that whole shy-awkward thing?"

"And how." Angela sighed with a disbelieving shake of her head.

"And speak of the horny devils, there they are." Mindy said as she pointed down the crowded mall.

Dillon and Jessi, their arms wrapped around each other were seated at a table in front of the Starbucks, alternately sipping at their drinks and making out.

"They're dating?" Marty asked.

"That's an understatement." Angela muttered under her breath as Mindy chuckled again.

"I thought Jessi moved to Rochester." Marty said.

"She's in town for a few days to visit relatives." Mindy explained.

"How can they start up a relationship with so little time?" Marty asked.

"I think they're focusing on making it quality rather than quantity time." Mindy deadpanned as Angela suppressed a shudder.

Dillon and Jessi spotted the trio walking over and waved. Mindy instantly saw that they looked…mussed. It was as if they'd gone somewhere for a quickie. Then she noticed that both had their shirts incorrectly buttoned and realized she was on to something. Dillon and Jessi stood up, as they did so Jessi made a point to rub herself up and down Dillon's leg, causing the youth's pants to bulge in a certain spot. Her eyes went wide as she saw it. She had thought that Angela might have been exaggerating the intensity of what she'd walked in on the night before. But if this was any indication, Angela was bang on accurate in what she had reported.

"Hey guys." Dillon and Jessi chorused. Mindy and Angela returned the greeting as they tried to process this new look at Jessi, as well as Dillon's inner sex maniac come to the forefront.

"You remember our friend Marty, don't you?" Mindy asked the new couple. They apparently did remember him and exchanged greetings.

"Angela, we stopped at the cleaners on the way here." Jessi told her childhood friend as she handed over a ticket. "We dropped off your quilt, blanket and pillows. They'll be steam cleaned and disinfected by this afternoon."

"Uh…thanks." Angela said sheepishly. She couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Where were you two anyways? Angela and I were looking around when you weren't here when we got here." Mindy said.

"Oh…Dillon and I wanted a bit of privacy."

"Why did you want…OW!" Marty started to ask before Mindy and Angela each kicked him on a separate ankle.

"Oh, just a little "us" time." Dillon sighed. "Luckily we found a photo booth with a curtain."

"And lucky we had enough small bills for the time we were in there." Jessi added as she reached around to squeeze Dillon's butt.

"You said it." Dillon replied as he squeezed hers and they kissed again. As they did so, three separate strips of photos feel to the ground. Mindy bent down to pick up two, Marty grabbed the third.

"What are you two talking about?" Marty asked as he looked at his photo strip. "Oh sweet mercy!" He gasped as he looked at the image.

Against her better judgement, but drawn by morbid curiosity, Mindy looked at the photo strip and suppressed a gasp of surprise. She'd seen a lot of shocking things in her career as Hit-Girl…But this was a whole new ball game. She'd never seen anything that explicit…with the subject so unconcerned and unashamed. She wondered if Jessi and Dillon were like some pornographic binary chemical where they needed the other to cause the reaction.

"Wow…That's just…wow." Mindy muttered as she replaced the pictures on the table.

"Told you so." Angela whispered.

Mindy was about to respond when she saw Dave hurrying through the mall towards them.

"Hey guys." He said as he reached them. "Hey Marty. What brought you out here?"

"I thought I'd offer my protection to these helpless damsels, but wouldn't you know it they beat me up and took my lunch money." Marty joked as he handed back the picture and rubbed his eyes.

"Hey Dave." Jessi greeted him and gave him a quick hug. "Dave." Dillon greeted with a handshake that was at least twenty percent cooler than his normal behaviour.

Mindy noted that Dave seemed agitated and anxious to talk with her. She glanced at Marty and Angela. "Why don't you guys go on to Bed, Bath & Beyond? We'll catch up." Angela and Marty took her hint and led Dillon and Jessi away, still trying to come up with a conversation piece that didn't involve the photo booth.

Once the others had gone, Dave and Mindy walked slowly around the fountain that they both so remembered.

"What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Ah…About last night." Dave said as they strolled up onto the bridge that spanned the fountain.

Mindy bit down on her lip nervously. "What part of last night?"

"The party and…the kiss." Dave said nervously.

"Yeah?" Mindy said as her heart pounded. She was half-expecting Dave to tell her that he didn't expect anything to change and that it was just the moment, or something. Mindy steeled herself to have her heart broken.

"I….uh…" Dave stammered as he cursed his nervousness. He'd mentally rehearsed everything in the car but now he found himself blanking out.

"What? Look, if you're going to tell me it was no big thing last night, just spit it out…I can take it." Mindy said, although the tone of her voice on the last four words indicated something different.

"No!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it…It was a big thing for me."

"It was?" Mindy asked as her heart began to pound now in eager anticipation as she wondered if Angela had indeed been right.

"Yeah…I wanted to do that…for a long time" Dave said, his voice tight with nervous anxiety.

"You did?" Mindy asked, as she suddenly felt happiness building within her.

"Yeah…I…" Dave tried to say as they stopped in the middle of the bridge.

"What?" Mindy demanded anxiously. However, instead of saying something, Dave wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. Before she could say anything, he bent his head down to reach hers and kissed her deeply on the lips.

After several seconds they broke. Mindy's face was a mix of absolute surprise and utter joy.

"That's what." Dave said, finally finding his voice. "I've wanted to do that for a long time. And…And I want you." He said plaintively. "Mindy…" He was cut off by Mindy throwing her arms around his neck, standing on her tiptoes and kissing him again.

"You really want me?" She murmured after several long seconds.

"More than anyone or anything in the world." Dave replied. Mindy pulled him down to her level again.

"Shut the fuck up and kiss me again." She giggled happily and she pulled his lips on her hers as Dave lifted her slightly off the ground to match his greater height, oblivious to all around them as they kissed yet again.

* * *

><p><em>AN: _Oh, the opening fight in the parking lot...is based on the fact I've seen fistfights break out over parking in shopping centers at Christmastime.__


End file.
